José Quintana. Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized
The New York Mets (50-61) looked to end a losing streak and set the season back on track against the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday afternoon. With José Quintana taking the mound, he gave the Mets his best start of his short tenure with the team, but the offense proved to be their Achilles heel as New York dropped their sixth in a row, 2-0.
Quintana pitched brilliantly against a Baltimore offense that has clobbered the Mets in the first two games of the series. When the other starters, David Peterson and Tylor Megill, gave up 17 runs combined, Quintana limited the Orioles to one run on a fielder’s choice by Adley Rutschman which sent Jorge Mateo home after hitting a triple in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Quintana went six innings and allowed two additional hits in the seventh inning, consequently, getting pulled for Trevor Gott. While allowing one run through his first six innings, Quintana would be responsible for the second Baltimore run which was also scored on a fielder’s choice.
The defense this afternoon was also a thorn in the Mets side. The fielder’s choice in the seventh inning to allow the Orioles to extend their lead could have easily been a recorded out and limiting the damage. Danny Mendick could have handled the ball and thrown it home to get James McCann in at least a rundown, but chose to get the runner out at second. Gott would get through the inning cleanly after the blemish from the defense.
Offensively, the Mets were quiet again and the Baltimore defense shined when the Mets had a chance to get on base. New York was limited to only four hits. It all culminated in another shutout loss, 2-0, and the team dropping to a season-worse 11 games under .500.
Player of the Game: José Quintana
Quintana has pitched great so far during Mets’ tenure and in Sunday afternoon’s game against Baltimore it was no different. Quintana went six strong innings, allowing six hits, two walks, and struck out six batters. Poor defense from the Mets contributed greatly to the couple blemishes he had.
In his fourth start of the season, Quintana has pitched just over 25 innings and allowed 12 runs. Averaging that out to about three runs a start. He has been great, but has yet to be on the winning side of a decision.
Statistic of the Game: No Offense, No Runs
The Mets managed to accumulate 11 hits throughout the first two game against the Orioles. Sunday, the Mets had four with no runs with only one extra base hit.
Since the start of their series against the Kansas City Royals, the Mets have only scored three or more runs once.
The offense has proven to be null and void, with their best opportunity came in the top of the fifth inning when the Mets had the bases loaded, thanks to a pair of walks and a single by Francisco Lindor. However, DJ Stewart grounded out to end the inning.
On Deck:
The Mets (50-61) will send Kodai Senga to the mound to take on the red-hot Chicago Cubs (57-54) and Drew Smyly. The Mets open the three-game series at 7:10 pm at Citi Field on Monday.
