Last night the Mets and Jacob deGrom got knocked out early as they were unable to solve Johnny Cueto. The series is not getting off to the start the Mets or their fans would have hoped for after being completely dominated and heading back to Citi Field down two games. Here’s what you can takeaway from the loss last night:
1. The Royals offense is better than I thought they would be and did a great job last night of making Jacob deGrom work. Alex Gordon came up huge again and sparked what turned into a four-run rally for Kansas City and a disastrous inning for deGrom. Last night was only the second time and first since May 26th, 2014 (3rd ML start) that deGrom has allowed more walks (3) than batters he struck out (2).
2. How about that guy playing shortstop for the Mets right now? Wilmer Flores made two more very solid defensive plays last night and is beginning to look like he knows what he is doing at shortstop. His solid defensive postseason was highlighted by one play, showing off his good range and making an off balance throw to get Ben Zobrist in the 7th inning of Game 2. Let’s hope he can continue to flash the leather for a pitching staff that desperately needs help against the contact-hitting Royals.
3. The Mets offense is absolutely in a rut right now in what couldn’t be worse timing. They have now scored just one earned run in the last 18 innings while producing only seven hits during that span. The Mets did put the ball in play last night, striking out only four times against Cueto but failed to get an extra base hit. For the Mets to get back into this series guys like Yoenis Cespedes, David Wright and Travis d’Arnaud are going to have to start producing.
4. I wasn’t sure before last night but the good news is that Hansel Robles and Sean Gilmartin are both alive and well. Robles worked a clean sixth inning (with some help from Yoenis Cespedes) showing some life on his fastball despite not having pitched for 18 days. Gilmartin got the final two outs in the 8th inning after not having pitched in a game since October 1st. Many disagreed with me but I thought either Robles or Gilmartin should have been brought into the bases loaded situation on Tuesday night. Both can strike out batters at a higher rate than Bartolo Colon and while I know they have struggled with inherited runners, either of them had a better chance of succeeding in that situation I think.
5. I think people forget because he has struggled with the Royals and got thrashed by the Blue Jays last week that Johnny Cueto is a good major league pitcher. Cueto is just one year removed from leading the National League in strikeouts and finishing second in the Cy Young voting. He had all his pitches working and was successful keeping the ball in the zone most of the night with only Lucas Duda having any success against him.
The Mets have put themselves into a 0-2 hole, but this team has shown all year they are resilient and I certainly wouldn’t count them out with three games coming up at Citi Field.
