The Mets managed just five hits against the Brewers in a boring loss at Citi Field.
The most interesting part of tonight's game was Terry Collins' ejection in the fifth inning. It came after Taylor Teagarden was called out at first base after Mark Reynolds flipped to pitcher Wily Peralta covering the bag. The Mets challenged the play, justifiably, as replays suggested that Teagarden beat it out. However, the call was upheld, and Collins was ejected after some mild arguing with umpire Gary Cederstrom.
Collins had a great postgame quote about the play (via Matt Ehalt):
"Gary [Cederstrom] handled it just like he's supposed to, he said 'the play stands, I ain't got nothing else to tell you.' I said 'well I got something to say.'"
Replay has been a boon to the game and it seems like most calls have been correctly made. I think MLB missed this one, though. So did Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez, and Ron Darling. Maybe the system still has a few kinks to work out. Anyway, you be the judge:
The rest of the game was a run-of-the-mill Mets loss. The lineup notched just five hits, the defense was shaky, and the pitching was respectable but not dominant.
Jacob deGrom allowed three runs on nine hits in 5.2 innings pitched, striking out four and walking one. Of his 107 pitches, 80 went for strikes. That's good for 75% strike rate, well above the league average of 64%. deGrom was constantly in trouble, though, as he managed just a lone one-two-three inning. His defense didn't help -- the Mets committed two errors and made a couple misplays -- but Brewers batters hit their fair share of balls hard against him. The three runs deGrom allowed came on an RBI groundout and two RBI singles. It wasn't a great start but he buckled down in a couple big spots to prevent the Brew Crew from blowing the game open. He now has a 3.44 ERA and 4.41 FIP in 36.2 MLB innings.
The Mets' lone run came via a Lucas Duda sacrifice fly in the second inning against Brewers starter Wily Peralta. After that, the Mets managed just three baserunners. Only Curtis Granderson had a nice night at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. Francisco Rodriguez pitched one-two-three ninth inning to pick up his 20th save of the season.
Some bullet thoughts:
- David Wright's OPS is below .700 after an 0-for-4 night. He's 1-for-his-last-26. It's depressing to watch. Maybe he's injured.
- Carlos Torres threw 1.2 innings in relief and now has 34 appearances this season. He's on pace for 85 appearances or Tommy John Surgery, whichever comes first.
- Granderson has generally looked good in the outfield. However, tonight in the fourth inning, he misplayed what should have been a single for Aramis Ramirez into a double. Perhaps playing left field threw him off. Ramirez came around to score after the misplay.
- Juan Lagares> Matt den Dekker, both offensively and defensively. Come back, Juan.
The Mets are now 29-36, six games back of the first place Nationals in the NL East. That's a full season pace of 72-90. Game three of the Mets-Brewers series is Thursday at 7:10 pm ET. The pitching matchup is Jon Niese vs Kyle Lohse.
SB Nation GameThreads
* Amazin' Avenue GameThread
* Brew Crew Ball GameThread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Curtis Granderson +14.4%, Andrew Brown +4.8%
Big losers: Jacob deGrom (as pitcher) -17.0%, David Wright -12.6%
Teh aw3s0mest play:Bobby Abreu single in the second inning, +10.4%
Teh sux0rest play:Jonathan Lucroy double in the fifth inning, -10.9%
Total pitcher WPA: -10.0%
Total batter WPA: -40.0%
GWRBI!: Jean Segura RBI single in the fourth inning