The Wild Card-hopeful New York Mets (67-64) dropped their fourth straight game, losing 5-2 to the Chicago Cubs (70-61). It was an impactful loss for the Mets as they are now directly chasing the Cubs in the standings, dropping three games back of the second wild-card spot. (Box Score)
Pete Alonso set the Mets single-season home run record with his 42nd home run in the fourth inning. The 407-foot bomb broke a tie with Carlos Beltran and Todd Hundley. Both players prepared statements congratulating Pete on breaking the record. Alonso’s next potential milestone is the single-season rookie record of 52 set by Aaron Judge in 2017.
Pitching
Marcus Stroman got the nod for the Mets after leaving his last start against the Cleveland Indians with hamstring tightness. Stroman looked sharp for his third consecutive start, but his struggles with the home run ball continued in a Mets uniform. As a Blue Jay, Stroman allowed 10 home runs in 124 2/3 innings and, as a Met, he has already allowed five home runs in just 25 2/3 innings.
After getting the lead in the fourth, he quickly gave it back, surrendering a leadoff double to Victor Caritini and a two-run home run to Addison Russell. Stroman was once again struck by the home run ball in the fifth, allowing another two-run bomb to Javier Baéz. Aside from the two blemishes, Stroman did okay to keep the Mets in the game. He finished with a final line of six innings, six hits, two walks, seven strikeouts and four earned runs. With the loss, Stroman’s ERA as a Met went up to 4.91.
Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless seventh inning while allowing one hit. Familia lowered his ERA to 5.87, his lowest since the team’s June 27th game against the Yankees. It was his 7th scoreless outing in his last 10 appearances.
Chris Mazza came on to pitch the final two innings and allowed a run on four hits. It was a somewhat dubious decision by manager Mickey Callaway at the time, as the Mets were only trailing by three runs and Mazza hadn’t appeared in a major league game in more than a month.
Yu Darvish entered tonight’s game without registering a walk in his last five starts. The streak lasted a remarkable 143 consecutive batters until he walked Todd Frazier to lead off the fifth. It remained a dominant start for Darvish, as he went eight innings allowing just one run on five hits, one walk, and seven strikeouts.
Offense
The Mets offense entered Tuesday night’s game having scored only nine runs in their previous four games. The struggles continued as they failed to cash in early on a Michael Conforto leadoff triple in the second. It was Conforto’s fourth career triple and his first of 2019.
The lone bright spot came off the bat of rookie sensation Pete Alonso. Alonso struck once again, launching a solo home run 407 feet over the wall in right-center field. It was a historic blast for Alonso, his 42nd of the year, as it set the Mets single-season home run record. Alonso became the first rookie since Johnny Rizzo (Pittsburgh Pirates) in 1938 to break a team’s franchise-record as a rookie.
Wilson Ramos extended his hitting streak to 20 games. It’s the longest streak by a player this season and the longest by a Met in a single season since Moises Alou‘s franchise-record 30-game streak in 2012. Ramos finished the game 2/4 with two singles and raised his season average to .288.
J.D. Davis added a solo home run in the 9th to cut the deficit to 5-2. It was his 16th home run of the season.
On Deck
The Mets are back in action again tomorrow night as they face the Cubs at 7:10 p.m. ET at Citi Field. Noah Syndergaard (9-6 3.71 ERA) will look to get the Mets back on track as he faces off against Kyle Hendricks (9-9 3.20 ERA). The game will be broadcasted on SNY and WCBS 880.
