ATLANTA — The most ugly portion of the Mets’ schedule bought off to an ominous begin.
Monday kicked off 4 video games with the second-place Braves, the weekend has 4 extra with the Phillies and their Wild Card aspirations in retailer, then the Mets will play two charged up video games at Yankee Stadium.
Playing beneath darkish, foreboding clouds all evening in Atlanta, the Mets have been drubbed 13-1. A 55-minute rain delay within the second inning forged a really unusual feeling on the sport, and fittingly, it ended up being type of a wash.
The Mets solely bought six outs from Carlos Carrasco, who was pitching when the tarp got here out, then took the mound once more to get another earlier than departing for good. Carrasco was seen grabbing his left facet on his method out, and the Mets formally recognized it as left facet tightness.
Because of that, Monday grew to become a bullpen sport for the Mets, which meant loads of Joely Rodriguez and Adonis Medina. The former remains to be getting likelihood after likelihood as a result of he’s the one left-hander within the workforce’s bullpen, whereas the latter has been effective in restricted alternatives however shouldn’t be somebody a playoff workforce must be relying on.
They needed to decide up three innings in aid of Carrasco, although, and whereas their sheer presence on the mound allowed Buck Showalter to avoid wasting of his huge weapons for later within the collection, Rodriguez and Medina mixed to surrender six earned runs. Hilariously, place participant Darin Ruf got here in to pitch the seventh and eighth innings and didn’t let in any runs.
Sometimes, that’s simply how the cookie crumbles.
Carrasco and the rain put the Mets in a really bizarre spot, however even after issues bought considerably again to regular, the offense didn’t. Braves’ starter Spencer Strider, the identical one who said the Mets got lucky in opposition to him of their Aug. 7 showdown, held his self-created haters to a few hits and one earned run in 5 innings. The three by way of six hitters within the Mets’ lineup — Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Daniel Vogelbach and Mark Canha — didn’t attain base in any respect.
From the dangerous climate to Atlanta followers’ continued, enthusiastic participation within the tone deaf Tomahawk Chop, it was a nasty scene throughout on Monday evening. The Braves mercilessly scored eight runs within the backside of the sixth. When it lastly ended, it did so on a scary wanting play for the Mets, as Alonso needed to attain right into a charging runner to finish the putout.
That play didn’t find yourself creating an excellent worse scene, however the visible was proper according to the remainder of the evening: uncomfortable bordering on tragic. Luckily, it’s simply considered one of 162, and the odd circumstances will enable the Mets to downplay its severity. But the actual fact of the matter is — even with the Mets nonetheless holding a snug NL East lead — this was their worst lack of the season, and it got here in opposition to the workforce that desires to take the division from them. Prior to Monday evening, the Mets’ 13-2 loss in San Diego on June 8 was their most lopsided defeat of the yr.
For a lot of the season, it’s been the Mets inflicting the sort of ache on their opponents. The Amazin’s have received six video games this yr by eight or extra runs. Monday evening was the precise reverse of that, and whereas it received’t turn out to be a behavior, it’s a reminder that even the league’s greatest groups can get embarrassed on occasion.
But hey, at the least the blowout allowed Lindor, Alonso and Starling Marte to take the previous couple of innings off.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com