Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports
Cookie crumbled on Sunday as the Mets were swept by the Brewers, losing for the 14th time in their last 18 games.
Carlos Carrasco was handed the ball Sunday afternoon but lasted just four innings, giving up seven hits and five runs (all earned) while walking four, striking out three, and increasing his ERA to 5.73. He threw just 78 pitches (49 for strikes) as he continues to struggle on the mound since returning from the injured list.
The first inning is when things immediately unraveled for Carrasco, which has been the story of his shortened 2021 season. He walked Kolten Wong to open the bottom of the first and then surrendered a two-run home run to Willy Adames to left center. He gave up two more singles in the inning, but managed to hold the Brewers to just those two runs in the first.
The right-hander’s struggles continued into the second inning. He gave up a lead-off single to Lorenzo Cain and walked two later in the inning. With one out and the bases loaded, Carrasco induced a groundout from Christian Yelich to first base, but that allowed Cain to score to extend the Brewers’ lead over the Mets to 3-1. Eduardo Escobar followed with a two-out, two-RBI single to right field to extend the Brewers’ lead even more to 5-1. Carrasco managed to get out of the inning after that, but not before the Brewers seemingly took control of this game.
Carrasco’s third inning of work was much less eventful. He gave up another single to Cain, but the Brewers were held to just that one hit and failed to score for the first time. The veteran continued to be slightly shaky in the fourth. He gave up a single and a walk in what ended up being his final inning of work for the day as Miguel Castro came on to replace him in the fifth inning.
Overall, the Mets used six pitchers on Sunday with the relievers giving up three additional runs on one hit over the final four innings of this game.
