Bassitt Dominates Mets in Blue Jays’ 3-0 Win

The Mets swept the Phillies on Thursday as they defeated Taijuan Walker in the third game of the three-game set. On Friday, the Mets faced another member of their 2022 team as Chris Bassitt and the Blue Jays traveled to Citi Field to start a three-game series. For the Mets, Justin Verlander took the mound hoping to rebound from a poor performance in Colorado.

The game, originally scheduled for a 7:10 p.m. ET start, was delayed due to rain and officially started 90 minutes later at 8:40 p.m. ET. Overall, Verlander pitched well but Bassitt pitched better as he shut down the Mets offense, leading the Blue Jays to a 3-0 win.

On just the second pitch of the game, George Springer took his former teammate Verlander deep to center field to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead, as Verlander’s struggles in the first inning this year continued. He retired the next two batters before walking Brandon Belt, and was then able to strike out Matt Chapman to put an end to the inning.

Bassitt retired the first two Met hitters before Jeff McNeil took the first pitch of his at-bat into right-center field for a double. Alonso wasn’t able to take advantage of the runner in scoring position as he popped out in foul territory to give Bassitt a clean first inning.

After a 1-2-3 second inning, Verlander got the first two outs of the third inning before allowing a single off the bat of Bo Bichette. That brought up the powerful Vladimir Guerrero Jr. but he struck out on three pitches to keep the Jays’ lead at one.

Leading off the bottom of the third, Canha worked a full count after falling behind 0-2, and ripped a single through the left side of the infield to continue his recent hot stretch. He then stole second base for his third stolen base of the year. Francisco Álvarez then hit a grounder to the right side of the infield that hit off the glove of Guerrero and Álvarez was able to get to first safely, putting runners on the corners with nobody out.

The top of the Mets order, however, put together three brutal at-bats in a row as Brandon Nimmo popped up on the infield on the first pitch he saw, Francisco Lindor struck out looking, and Jeff McNeil popped up on the infield on the first pitch he saw to allow Bassitt to escape the inning without giving up a run.

The Mets once again put together three straight poor at-bats in the bottom of the fourth inning, putting two more balls in play on the first pitch just as they had in the previous inning. This time, Pete Alonso popped up on the infield, Brett Baty struck out, and Starling Marte grounded out, allowing Bassitt to get through the inning on just six pitches.

Bichette led off the sixth inning for the Blue Jays with a comebacker off of Verlander and he reached first base safely after Verlander couldn’t recover the ball cleanly. Guerrero then walked to put runners on first and second base with no outs. Verlander then struck out Brandon Belt and Matt Chapman back-to-back before Whit Merrifield hit an infield single to load the bases.

With Daulton Varsho at the plate, Verlander attacked him with fastballs before putting him away with a slider, striking out three in the inning to avoid disaster. That would be all for him for the night as he tallied a whopping 117 pitches through six innings, giving up just the one run on five hits while walking three and striking out eight.

With the top of the order coming up in the bottom of the sixth and needing runs, Nimmo hit a deep fly ball to left-center field that flew all the way to the warning track but was tracked down by Kevin Kiermaier for the first out. After Lindor struck out in a full count, McNeil also got to a full count but flew out to center field to end the inning. Since the Mets had first-and-third with no outs in the third inning, Bassitt had now retired twelve straight.

Dominic Leone came on in relief for the Mets to start the seventh inning and he needed just nine pitches to set the Blue Jays’ hitters down in order. In the bottom of the inning, Bassitt extended his streak to retire 14 straight as he retired Alonso and Baty, but Marte broke that streak by hitting a ball the other way for a two-out opposite-field single. Marte then stole second base to put the tying run in scoring position with Mark Vientos up at the plate, but a groundball out ended the inning with the Mets still down 1-0.

Drew Smith was called on to pitch the eighth inning against the heart of the Toronto lineup. After a Bichette groundout, Guerrero singled into center field but he was erased on the next pitch after Belt grounded into a double play to end the inning. Bassitt stayed on for the bottom of the eighth and retired Canha and Álvarez before Tim Mayza was called on to relieve him. With a two-strike count and two outs in the inning, Nimmo was called for a pitch-clock violation to give Mayza an easy out to end the inning.

After pitching a scoreless inning the previous night against the Phillies, Jeff Brigham was asked to pitch for a second straight game as he came on in the ninth inning. After giving up a one-out single, Brigham gave up a two-run homer to Varsho to give the Blue Jays some insurance and a 3-0 lead. The next two batters were retired in order, putting the Mets offense back on the field for the bottom of the ninth.

Jordan Romano relieved Mayza to start the ninth inning, looking to get the save with a three-run lead. Lindor led off the inning by hitting a ball to deep left field, but it died on the warning track for the first out. McNeil popped up on the infield to bring the Mets to their final out, but Alonso kept the game alive by singling through the infield. However, Baty struck out on three pitches to put the game to bed, giving the Mets their eighth shutout of the year.

Player Spotlight

Justin Verlander started the night off by giving up a leadoff homer, but that was his lone blemish as he threw six innings and kept the Mets in the game. He threw 117 pitches and got out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth inning, getting a massive strikeout to keep the Mets’ deficit at just one. Unfortunately, the Mets couldn’t score a single run in the game putting the loss on Verlander, but he was clearly the best player on the field tonight for the Mets.

On Deck

The Mets continue the series with the Blue Jays on Saturday at 4:10 p.m. ET. Tylor Megill, who has failed to go past four innings in each of his last two starts, will look to turn things around as he starts for the Mets. Meanwhile, José Berríos is in the middle of a fantastic stretch of starts for Toronto and will look to keep it going as he gets the start tomorrow for the Jays. The game will be broadcast on SNY.