Mets blow three-run lead, fall below .500 in their latest uninspiring loss
Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor both hit two-run home runs in the third, but that was it as the pitching couldn't hold the lead for the club's fourth loss in a row. Plus, a note on Jacob deGrom
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets blew a three-run lead and lost to the Braves by a score of 6-4 on Tuesday night in Atlanta (box)
The Mets put up a four-spot in the third inning thanks to a pair of two-run home runs from Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso, but the Braves put up four runs in the sixth inning on Carlos Carrasco and Drew Smith, to which the Mets offense had no response to the rest of the way
The Mets recorded only two other singles on the night - Brett Baty went 1-for-3 and Omar Narváez went 1-for-2
Jeff Brigham and Omar Narváez each contributed a scoreless inning of relief
The Mets have now lost four games in a row to fall to 30-31 on the season. They are hitting .171/.235/.318 and are averaging 2.7 runs scored per game over their last seven games
News and Notes 🗞️
Buck Showalter said before the game that Omar Narváez will in fact cut into Francisco Álvarez’s playing time behind the plate, at least initially - Álvarez went 0-for-14 on the club’s most recent homestand
Showalter suggested the WBC and the competition factor early in the season has contributed to Francisco Lindor’s poor start to the season
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (30-31) vs. Braves (36-24)
Where: Trust Park - Atlanta, GA
Starters: RHP Max Scherzer (5-2, 3.21 ERA) vs RHP Charlie Morton (5-6, 3.62 ERA)
When: 7:20 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The Mets are now under water - how much are they taking on? ✍🏼
It is June 7, and the Mets are now under .500 for the season. Who would’ve thought that with this $400 million roster on April 1?
Well, it’s a reality.
It was more of the same on Tuesday, too. An insufficient amount of offense (it literally came on two swings of the bat in a matter of 5 minutes), flatlined starting pitching in the end and no response afterwards.
In the end, it was a typical 2023 loss for the Mets. Only this one left them with more losses than wins as their record is now 30-31 on the year.
To be fair, Carlos Carrasco was really good over the first five innings. He allowed only an Ozzie Albies solo homer in the second inning but was otherwise solid for 15 outs. But he couldn’t even sniff the 16th out in the sixth and got absolutely ambushed by Austin Riley and Sean Murphy, ending his night and in-turn effectively ending the Mets night as well.
It’s hard to really armchair manage the decision to keep Carrasco in the game in that spot, either. He was pitching well, the club had a three-run lead and he deserved the sixth inning. There was no reason or even way for Buck Showalter to react fast enough to prevent the Braves from taking the lead there, either. He gave up runs to a good offense, and the Mets had two baserunners the rest of the way.
What could he do?
I mentioned this yesterday - this is a series the Mets didn’t need to make up ground (friendly reminder that they lost ground last night) as much as they had to demonstrate they deserved a spot on the dance floor with the Braves. The good teams do what the Braves did last night - waited for their moment and seized it.
The Mets? Well, they rolled over and died when the Braves came back and took the lead in the sixth. Is that a team that deserves to be in the same space as the Braves? Again, they had two baserunners after the Braves took the lead in the form of Starling Marte reaching on an error from Austin Riley in the seventh (he was promptly erased on a 4-6-3 double play) and a one-out walk to Brandon Nimmo in the eighth.
The good news for the Mets is they have their co-aces going today and tomorrow. Max Scherzer will get a chance to right this ship today, stop the bleeding and at least give the Mets something to feel good about. Then it will be Justin Verlander tomorrow, who has a chance to do the same. If it breaks right, the Mets could still win this series and change the conversation entirely.
But it’s going to take them shutting down the Braves and the Mets offense collectively showing a pulse to do that. None of that seems to work at the same time, which is represented in their 30-31 mediocre record.
I still can’t wrap my head around 30-31 on June 7. Something has to give you would think, right?
This team is now underwater. Whether or not the ship is taking on water and sinking will ultimately be determined by how well Scherzer and Verlander pitch and whether or not the offense can eventually show a pulse.
Side Note 📝
On another note, this Jacob deGrom news is really sad. It seemed inevitable of course given what he went through between 2021 and 2022 with that elbow. I know a lot of people out there believe the Mets dodged a bullet, and if folks want to take a transactional perspective on the matter, they’re free to do so (its not as if the Mets have been better without him, for what its worth). That’s the easy way out and a way for some Met fans to make themselves feel good about the situation, in my opinion.
But if you feel good about a player getting hurt and that player’s career being in severe jeopardy - regardless of how much money that player makes - let’s just say I disagree with that position at a minimum.
As for me, I view this as a sad day for deGrom and baseball. He has been one of the game’s elite over the last decade, was impossibly good for the Mets after working so hard to get to the big leagues in 2014, and did things seemingly no other human could do on the mound. He had built a Hall of Fame resume in a short span of time in a Koufaxian manner, but that track hit a wall over the last couple of years and now, it’s tough to see the end of that trail, unfortunately.
I don’t think any of this takes away from what deGrom meant to the Mets during his time with the club, nor does it diminish his impact on the game over the last decade as a whole. Pitchers break - it’s a matter of when, as Terry Collins used to say.
I suppose when one throws a 100+ mph fastball coupled with a 94-95 mph back foot slider, eventually the arm can’t hold up. Hopefully, he figures this out, gets back out there and can find the best version of whatever he is at that time so he can finish his career strong. A second Tommy John Surgery stacks those odds against him again, but if there’s anyone who has proven the odds can be defied, it is in fact Jacob deGrom.
Around the League 🚩
Jacob deGrom will undergo a second Tommy John Surgery on his right elbow, costing him the remainder of this season and likely the majority of next season (video)
Marcus Semien extended his hitting streak to 25 games in the Rangers’ 6-4 win over the Cardinals in Arlington
After crashing into the right field wall at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, Aaron Judge landed on the injured list with a strained ligament in his toe - the Yankees lost to the White Sox 3-2 in the Bronx on Tuesday as Lucas Giolito threw six no-hit innings against the Yankees in the win
Luis Arraez went 2-for-4 in the Marlins 6-1 win over the Royals on Tuesday - he raised his batting average to .401 on the year