Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Bassitt was dealing for the New York Mets on Saturday night as he pitched arguably one of his best outings of the 2022 season thus far. Unfortunately, the righty’s efforts were wasted as the bats went cold for the second night in a row in a frustrating 2-1 loss to the Padres.

For the second consecutive night, the Mets got excellent pitching from their starter on the mound. However, also for the second night in a row, there was no run support. As the offense was only able to put up a combined total of two runs in the two games after the All-Star break. While it was Max Scherzer who was let down on Friday, Bassitt had even more reason to feel aggrieved after delivering filthy stuff all night while going deep into the game.

“My job here is to eat innings – I’m eating innings,” Bassitt said. “I’ll be pretty upset if I’m losing in the playoffs (like this). Right now, just keep grinding. I know these games are frustrating from all standpoints, but overall it’s okay.”

Saturday’s game proved to be a case of banishing the demons for Bassitt who gave up seven earned runs in just 3 1/3 innings the last time he faced the Padres. That was a month ago and since then, the veteran has been solid. Though, he really delivered a statement game this time around against San Diego.

He was locked in from the very first pitch as he breezed through an easy 1-2-3 first inning, relying on his sinker which he used 28% of the time with an 11% whiff rate. It was a similar story in the second, third, and fourth innings as Bassitt did a good job of rotating through his full arsenal of pitches. Bassitt reached double figures percentages in usage for all but one of his pitches.

Heading into the fifth, the 33-year-old had sat down 12 straight batters, retiring six, and he didn’t give up a hit until the sixth. This when Eric Hosmer hit a line-drive single out to right field after Nomar Mazara was hit by a pitch. However, Bassitt’s filthy stuff helped him get out of that inning unscathed. He gave up a single to Jurickson Profar in the sixth, but was able to strike out Jake Cronenworth by using a combination of his pitches to lethal effect.

Indeed, Bassitt’s only mistake came in the sixth inning when Manny Machado launched a two-run homer out to left center field. However, it was a mistake that appears should have never have happened. Just before the home run, Bassitt had Machado struggling and down 0-2 in the count and threw a slider that caught the top of the plate. Though, it was called a ball by home plate umpire Jim Wolf. Such blown calls are frustrating whenever they happen, but especially in this case given how dominant Bassitt had been.

“It’s part of the game,” Bassitt said of the blown call. “It’s okay that he missed it, I just got to make a much better pitch the pitch after – that was a terrible pitch.”

The home run aside, Bassitt rebounded by getting through another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh. After this scoreless seventh, he left the mound having done everything he could to put the Mets in the best possible position to win. It was arguably his strongest outing in months, and he finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts. Bassitt allowed just two earned runs on four hits with no walks in seven innings pitched.

It was a gem of an outing and one that deserved a win given how dominant Bassitt was. He really did look at the peak of his powers and his performance on the mound drew praise from Mets’ manager Buck Showalter. Showalter was impressed with his starter’s control after a long break.

“I thought Bassitt was good, he was solid,” Showalter said. “He had good feel. When you have that much time off – eight or nine days – you don’t know how the feel is going to be but he had good command of the curveball, the slider and he gave us a chance. A really good chance.”