Mets pitching goes bonkers in weird loss to the Pirates, but let's keep the faith!

The Mets walked ten batters and hit two more in a poorly pitched game on Tuesday night in Flushing

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets lost to the Pirates by the score of 7-4 on Tuesday at Citi Field (Box)

• The Mets were ineffective on the mound on Tuesday, as David Peterson, José Buttó, and Grant Hartwig combined to walk ten batters and hit two in only 6.2 IP

• Drew Smith and Brooks Raley combined to allow only two hits over the 2.1 IP

• The Mets did hit three home runs - Brandon Nimmo and Jonathan Araúz hit solo homers and DJ Stewart hit a two-run homer

• The Mets are now 4-11 in August, 8-16 against the NL Central, 44-24 when scoring four or more runs, 9-48 when allowing five or more runs, and 12-18 since the All-Star Game

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Who’s Hot 🔥

• Brandon Nimmo has a seven-game hitting streak - he’s hitting .407/.484/.667 with a double, two home runs and two RBI during that span

• Francisco Lindor is hitting .308/.399/.517 with six doubles, two triples, five home runs and 14 RBI over his last 32 games

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Roster Moves 🗞️

• Recalled RHP José Buttó from Triple-A Syracuse

• Optioned RHP Tyson Miller to Triple-A Syracuse

• Outrighted OF Abraham Almonte to Triple-A Syracuse

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (54-66) vs. Pirates (54-66)

Where: Citi Field – Flushing, NY

Starting pitchers: RHP Tylor Megill (6-6, 5.64 ERA) vs. RHP Johan Oviedo (6-12, 4.42 ERA)

When: 1:10 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY, MLB Network

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We can endure this! ✍️

That game last night was a tough one to watch, which has pretty much been a recurring theme for the Mets this season.

With a fragmented roster like this, games like last night present as normal, unfortunately.

The amazing part about the game was that it didn’t get undone by the Mets until the seventh inning. David Peterson somehow escaped six walked in only three innings with only one run charged to his ledger. José Buttó - who has yet to show any kind of consistent command at this level - also walked the tightrope for his first 2.2 innings of work as well.

But then Buck Showalter relieved Buttó after he had walked the bases loaded. In came Grant Hartwig, who to be fair had been really good against left-handed hitters (they were hitting .103 coming into play against him) but he allowed all three inherited runners to score via the following:

A bases loaded walk to Jack Suwinski, a hit-by-pitch to Jared Triolo, and a passed ball (could easily have been ruled a wild pitch) by Francisco Álvarez.

That was before any ball was put in play.

Then Hartwig allowed a two-run double to Jason Delay and a run-scoring triple to Bryan Reynolds (the latter should’ve been played on a hop by Tim Locastro in center, but alas, it wasn’t) and that was pretty much that. Six runs in, game over.

The Mets did make it interesting with a couple of homers in the bottom of the seventh but it was yet another ugly game that passed them by on the schedule.

It’s ok, but it isn’t at the same time. This is a shell of a major league roster and it’s going to be hard on the eyes and ears at times as a result. They’re not going to get big league competitive pitching most of the time, the mistakes such as the one Locastro made in the sixth are going to happen when big league regulars aren’t out there a lot. Implosion innings like the one Hartwig had in the seventh will happen too.

They’re going to lose in ways that resemble the 1962 Mets a whole lot down the stretch of the season. That’s what the Mets front office signed up for over the last two months of this season.

But like I keep saying, it’s not ok that this is what’s left of this club. I get it, big prospects, weren’t going anywhere, blah, blah, blah. Not spinning that broken record again.

As I’ve said, understanding the long-term strategy with this club doesn’t mean anyone has to be ok with games like this, or the one they lost 21-3 against the Braves over the weekend, or any of these losses.

It sure didn’t sound like Met fans were ok with what they saw in the seventh inning last night at Citi Field, even if the majority got what the front office did to the roster two weeks ago.

I guess these are the licks they knew they would have to take as part of this decomposing…err…demolishing…err…transition they’re going through over the next three years….I mean, 5 months.

I want to watch the Mets. It’s part of what I do with my spring and summer nights. Not so much my fall nights unfortunately because they haven’t played a lot of fall ball over the course of their history. I’d like to of course, preferably late into October and into the early part of November.

On a regular basis, too.

But it’s hard to watch this. I do it of course - I’ve seen worse, been through worse, shut off games that were worse, stayed at the ballpark for games that were worse (although, that one is pretty close). I endured 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, most of the bad in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, most of the mediocre in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2021.

And I know many of you have endured most of the 1960’s, the black hole in the late 1970’s, and 1980-1983 (I was too little to remember 80-83).

So, we can do this!

#LGM

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Around the League 🚩

• The Yankees skid continued on Tuesday after the Braves one-hit them in a 5-0 shutout loss in Atlanta - Marcel Ozuna and Ronald Acuña, Jr. added to Atlanta’s home run parade and Bryce Elder gave them seven shutout innings in the win

• The Dodgers extended their winning streak to nine games with a 6-2 win over the Brewers in LA

• The Rangers sent the Angels to their seventh loss in ten games and 11th loss in 14 games in August with a 7-3 shelling in Arlington

• The Diamondbacks pulled back to .500 with an 8-5 win over the Rockies - Ketel Marte and Christian Walker each contributed two RBI in the win