Mets miss a golden opportunity to expand their lead thanks to a clunker in Milwaukee
Mets sprinkled three hits around a Tyler Naquin double and stranded nine runners on-base in a shutout loss to Milwaukee
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets were shutout by the Brewers by a score of 6-0 in Milwaukee on Wednesday (Box)
Taijuan Walker started for the Mets and he was dominant for five innings before allowing a solo home run to Willy Adames in the sixth inning and then was removed in the seventh inning allowing three baserunners and a run
David Peterson and Drew Smith did not fare well in relief of Walker - Peterson allowed both inherited runners to score along with a run of his own, and Smith allowed all of Peterson’s runs to score along with a run of his own on a pinch-hit grand slam from Mike Brosseau in his return from the injured list
The Mets mustered just three singles around a Tyler Naquin double, went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners on-base
The Mets were shutout for the eighth time this season on Wednesday
Injury Updates 🏥
Brandon Nimmo left Wednesday’s game with left quad tightness. He is considered day-to-day - it’s possible he will be active in Friday’s game against the A’s
Jeff McNeil insists he is ok despite dealing with an unspecified issue, apparent during their game against the Brewers on Wednesday
The Pennant Race 🏁
The Mets have clinched a postseason berth (9/19)
NL East lead: 1️⃣ game
Magic Number to win NL East: 1️⃣2️⃣
Win pace: 1️⃣0️⃣
Playoff odds (Fangraphs):
Win the National League East: 70.7 percent ⬆️
Clinch a first round bye: 70.7 percent ⬆️
Win the World Series: 16.6 percent ⬆️
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off today. They begin a three-game series with the A’s in Oakland on Friday night.
Mets miss a golden opportunity to expand their lead in a disadvantageous schedule 📝
There are days on the baseball calendar everyone circles as a game to remember, both in good ways and bad ways.
One of those days the Mets will unquestionably circle is Wednesday, September 21, and it wasn’t one of those good days.
For it was a day the Mets had an opportunity to expand their very slim lead in the National League East from one game to two after the Braves lost a sloppy game to the Nationals at home earlier that afternoon.
But the Mets failed to do so, as they neither got the pitching (in the end) or any kind of offense to support that cause.
Taijuan Walker was excellent for the Mets over five innings, and while he stumbled a bit in the sixth inning when he allowed a Willy Adames solo home run, he had otherwise done precisely what Buck Showalter and the Mets needed him to do through six innings.
But the Mets - who did lose a catalyst in Brandon Nimmo due to quad tightness early in this game - were unable to put together any kind of offensive attack and when they did have their chances, they failed to capitalize in each and every one of them.
In the end and a grand slam by Mike Brosseau to go with it, the Mets found themselves on the wrong end of a 6-0 shutout, settling for an otherwise good series win against a team that came into this series playing well, having won two of three from the Yankees just this past weekend.
Unfortunately for the Mets, given the date on the calendar and the implications of the game, winning two out of three against the Brewers seems less than satisfying, as they missed a very rare opportunity double their lead in the National League East to two games with only 11 games to go.
But it can be even worse than that when the day is done.
The Braves have the same number of losses as the Mets, having played two fewer games. Atlanta opens a four-game series with the Phillies tonight at Citizens Bank Park while the Mets are off, and again play the Nationals in the opener of a three-game series on Monday, again when the Mets are off.
Should Atlanta win both of those games, that alone would erase their one game deficit, assuming everything else remains the same.
So as I wrote last week, the schedule seems to be disadvantageous for the Mets in the final leg of this race simply because they’re off two more times than the Braves are. And by losing yesterday, they missed an opportunity to ensure at a minimum, Atlanta couldn’t tie them simply by winning those two games on days in which the Mets aren’t playing.
Look - they’re not winning every game down the stretch. And believe it or not, neither are the Braves. These kinds of games happen and the Mets are coming off a six-game winning streak. And to be fair, Atlanta missed an opportunity to tie the Mets yesterday with an ugly and somewhat embarrassing loss to the Nationals, who came from behind late on them in a home game. None of that should be forgotten or misunderstood.
But Wednesday’s loss to the Brewers just became their biggest swing-and-miss of the month so far and unfortunately, sours their otherwise strong showing in Milwaukee this week.
So now the Mets must wait, see and hope for a little help from the Phillies tonight, who didn’t do so last weekend when the Braves hosted them at Truist Park.
But this is the price teams pay when they don’t take care of their own business.
Down on the Farm 🌾
Francisco Álvarez (C, No. 1 Prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-4, 2B, RBI
José Buttó (RHP, No. 15 Prospect, Triple-A): 7 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 11 K
Stephen Nogosek (RHP, Triple-A): 1 IP, 1 H, 2K
Box Scores: Triple-A
Around the League 🚩
Aaron Judge now leads the American League in all Triple Crown categories after their 14-2 win over the Pirates in The Bronx: Average (.316), Home Runs (60), and RBI (128). He also leads the league in walks (93) and the majors in runs scored (123), OPS (1.123), OPS+ (214), and total bases (372)
The Braves took a sloppy 3-2 loss to the Nationals thanks to a Joey Meneses go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning - the Braves remained one game behind the Mets for the lead in the NL East
Blake Snell struck out 13 batters over seven innings as the Padres edged the Cardinals 1-0 for their fifth win in a row
Triston McKenzie struck out 13 batters over eight innings to help the Guardians to an 8-2 victory over the White Sox, extending their lead in the AL Central to six games
The Orioles kept their slim playoff hopes alive with an 8-1 drubbing of the Tigers - Jordan Lyles went the distance for Baltimore, allowing just a run on three hits