An unfortunate ramification of the condensed schedule the Mets have endured over the past week was that they had no starting pitchers available to take the mound in Tuesday’s series opener against the Baltimore Orioles. Instead of giving Franklyn Kilome his first career start, New York promoted Ariel Jurado from their alternate site to make the spot start.

On August 5th, the Mets traded a player to be named later and cash considerations to the Texas Rangers in exchange for Jurado, as the right-hander had been designated for assignment a few days prior.

Jurado had not made an appearance for the Rangers this season, but did pitch 177 innings for them over the previous two years, pitching to a 5.85 ERA.  His first start with the Mets did not get off to a great start, as the Baltimore Orioles wasted no time teeing off on the 24-year-old.

Baltimore’s leadoff hitter Cedric Mullens jump-started the first inning rally with a beautiful bunt base hit. Then after inducing a pop out, Jurado gave up three consecutive extra-base hits, all of which came off the bat with an exit velocity greater than 103 mph.

The only hit that did damage to the score in the first inning was a three-run homer off the bat of third baseman Renato Nunez, with the blast traveling 408 feet. Then in the second inning, Jurado yielded four more hits, all of which were singles, as the Orioles tacked on two more runs.

From that point on, Jurado settled down and pitched two scoreless innings, exiting the game with the Mets trailing by a score of 5-3.

With the Mets bullpen still reeling from five games over the weekend, Kilome was set to be the long-man in this outing, entering in the fifth inning. The 25-year-old rookie pitched a scoreless frame to start his night, provided a fleeting bit of hope for Mets fans.

Andres Gimenez tied the game in the top of the sixth inning, hitting a two-run homer which was the first of his career. The Mets could barely enjoy that clutch blast though, as Baltimore regained the lead in the bottom half of the frame.

Kilome walked the leadoff batter, then proceeded to give up an RBI double to Pat Valaika. Valaika had a big night going 4-for-4, with two doubles and two runs scored. Kilome then gave up a two-run homer a few batters later, as the Orioles went ahead 8-5.

Finally in the 7th inning, Nunez crushed his second home run of the night, taking Kilome deep for his fourth earned run of the game. All told, the Mets two pitchers allowed 14 hits, nine runs, three home runs and struck out just four batters across seven innings pitched.

After the game, manager Luis Rojas was pretty blunt in evaluating the performance they got from Jurado and Kilome.

“We didn’t quite get the outings we were expecting out of those two.” Rojas said.

With 24 games left this season, the Mets hope they can avoid injuries or any further stoppage of play, that way they can keep their starting rotation on schedule from here on out.