The New York Mets (56-54) were defeated by the Detroit Tigers (61-49) by a score of 6-5 at Comerica Park Friday evening. With a Washington Nationals loss, the Mets will remain nine games back for the division lead.
Pitching:
Logan Verrett was on the mound for the Mets tonight and he just didn’t have it. Verrett was nibbling around the plate early and although he managed to navigate through the first few innings without much damage, the dam eventually broke. All in all, Verrett went 3.2 innings giving up six runs, walking two, and striking out two.
The Tigers got things started right away in the bottom of the first inning. With a runner on first, Miguel Cabrera doubled in Tyler Collins to give the Tigers the early 1-0 lead.
After the Mets tied the game in the top of the fourth, Victor Martinez got things started for the Tigers in the bottom of the inning with a double into right field. J.D. Martinez followed with a single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Nick Castellanos followed and was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Justin Upton popped out to give the Mets their first out of the inning but Jarrod Saltalamacchia cashed in by stroking a two-run single into right field to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead. After getting Jose Iglesias to fly out, Verrett allowed another single to Ian Kinsler that would bring home Castellanos and give the Tigers a 4-1 lead.
Verrett was taken out there and Jonathon Niese was brought in but he didn’t do much better. Niese gave up consecutive singles to Tyler Collins and Miguel Cabrera to give the Tigers a 6-1 lead before finally getting out of the inning.
To Niese’s credit, he was able to stay in the game and pitch the fifth and the sixth innings. Niese gave the Mets two scoreless innings after a rocky fourth and kept the Mets in the game.
Hansel Robles took over and pitched an impressive scoreless seventh and eighth inning.
Offense:
In the top of the fourth inning, Jay Bruce crushed his 27th home run of the season to right-center field to tie the game at 1-1.
In the top of the fifth, after a Matt Reynolds groundout, Curtis Granderson hit his 18th home run of the year to make the score 6-2. After a Ty Kelly single and a Neil Walker walk, Jay Bruce grounded into a forceout to leave runners on the corners with two out. Wilmer Flores followed with a flair to right field to cut the Tigers lead to 6-3.
In the top of the seventh inning, the Mets were able to capitalize on some sloppy play by the Tigers and cut the lead to 6-5. The Mets continue to hit into double plays however when it appears they have the opposing team against the ropes.
In the top of the ninth inning, against Francisco Rodriguez, the Mets made things interesting. With two out, Jay Bruce and Alejandro De Aza singled to put runners on first and second with two out. Travis D’ Arnaud appeared to tie the game when he smacked a single into right field. Jay Bruce barreled around third and tried to score but was ruled out at the plate on a bullet by J.D. Martinez. It appeared Bruce would have been safe if he had just got his lead foot down but he never touched the bag. What an awful loss.
Asked why he didn’t just automatically challenge the play anyway, Terry Collins said, “I didn’t think of it.”
Notes:
The Mets are now 36-43 since May 10th as they creep closer to .500 on the year.
Tigers expect that Nick Castellanos will miss 3-4 weeks with a non-displaced fracture of the fifth metacarpal of his left hand suffered in tonight’s game.
Zack Wheeler made his debut for St. Lucie Mets tonight and was flashing 95-96 MPH on the gun.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their third game of a three-game set with the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park tomorrow afternoon. The game has a start time of 1:10 PM. Jacob deGrom (7-5, 2.41 ERA) looks to salvage a game against Anibal Sanchez (6-11, 6.26 ERA).
