The Mets (54-61) lost a 13 inning heartbreaker to the Nationals (62-51) this afternoon by a score of 5-3.
Mets starter Jacob deGrom was not himself early on, giving up three early runs before settling down in his last two innings of work. deGrom didn’t dominate like he had in his previous few starts, but he kept the Mets in the game.
After the Nats scored two in the second inning off an Ian Desmond home run, the Mets struck back with a Daniel Murphy RBI double. Murphy seemed to be involved in everything today, continuing his big hot streak. With his 3-for-6 performance today, he raised his batting line to .305/.349/.440.
After Ian Desmond brought home another run in the fourth inning, the Mets were shut down until the top of the seventh. Eric Young Jr. hit a run-scoring sacrifice fly to narrow the lead to just one run. The next batter, Curtis Granderson singled home Kirk Nieuwenhuis to tie the game up at three.
From the seventh on, it was a battle of the bullpens, as each side traded zeros until the 13th inning. During this stretch, Vic Black, Josh Edgin, Jeurys Familia, Dana Eveland, Buddy Carlyle, and Jenrry Mejia shut down the Nationals. On the other side, Craig Stammen pitched three solid innings, taking one for the team by throwing 47 pitches out of the bullpen.
With Carlos Torres pitching in the 13th, the final blow was dealt to the Mets from an unexpected source. With a runner on, Bryce Harper crushed one to left field to end the game. Harper had gone just 3-for-19 in August coming into today’s game, and hit just .228 in the month of July.
It was a disappointing loss for the Mets, who emptied their bullpen today. The games in which they use every pitcher hurt a lot more because they not only lose a game in the standings, but they handicap themselves going forward. The Mets do not have another off day until August 21, two weeks from today.
Starting Pitcher Breakdown
Jacob deGrom– 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 4 K, 97 pitches, 63 strikes
Jordan Zimmerman– 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R (3 ER), 0 BB, 5 K, 91 pitches, 67 strikes
Win Probability Breakdown
Top Three Plays
- Bryce Harper walk-off home run (0.298 WPA)
- Curtis Granderson seventh inning RBI single (0.192 WPA)
- Ian Desmond second inning homer (0.145 WPA)
Up Next: The Mets begin a four-game series against the Phillies as Bartolo Colon (10-9, 4.12 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 3.68 xFIP) faces off against AJ Burnett (6-11, 4.16 ERA, 4.10 FIP, 4.06 xFIP) at 7:05.
