Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets entered their weekend series with the Phillies with just a half game lead in the N.L. East. The Mets turned to Marcus Stroman for arguably his biggest start as a Met to date. Stroman has made four starts against the Phillies in 2021 and has a 1.35 ERA over 20 innings. Stroman’s first two starts of the season were wins against the Phillies, and with the offense struggling, the Mets needed him to continue his dominance over the Phillies to hold onto first place.
Stroman’s night started with a bit of bad luck right out of the gate. Odubel Herrera led off the bottom of the first inning with a weak roller to third base, but the Mets did not have a play on the speedy left fielder. He was quickly erased on a “strike ’em out, throw ’em out” double play with Jean Segura batting. Bryce Harper flew out to the warning track in left center to end in the inning.
J.T. Realmuto led off the second inning with a similar roller to Herrera’s in the first, but Jonathan Villar was able to make the play the second time around. Didi Gregorius followed with a home run on a 3-2 slider to put the Phillies ahead, but Stroman bounced back by striking out Alec Bohm and Brad Miller.
Stroman made quick work of the Phillies in the third inning. Travis Jankowski lined out to Brandon Nimmo for the first out of the inning before Kyle Gibson hit a dribbler to Stroman up the first baseline for the second out. Herrera worked a two-out walk before Segura hit a one-hopper back to Stroman to retire the side.
The Phillies had the middle of the order coming up in the fourth inning. Stroman retired Harper and Realmuto before Gregorious came up with two outs. He hit a long fly ball to left center that Nimmo looked like he had a play on, but the ball popped out of his glove when he made contact with the wall and fell for a triple. Bohm hit a soft line out to Jeff McNeil at second base to leave Gregorious at third.
Stroman found himself in instant trouble in the fifth. Miller hit a high fly ball to right field that carried back to the wall. Conforto appeared to settle under it, but it ended up just out of his reach for a leadoff triple. Stroman struck out Jankowski looking before Gibson helped himself with an RBI single to put the Phillies ahead. Stroman struck Herrera out and got Segura to fly out to end the inning and his night.
Stroman’s final line: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K.
Stroman was not perfect on Friday night, but he did deserve a much better fate. The Mets had plenty of chances to score and give Stroman a cushion, but just as they did in Miami, they failed to cash in on nearly all of their opportunities. With such little room to work with, the two mistakes to Gregorius and Gibson were more than he could afford to make. Stroman’s performance was deserving of a chance to take the mound for the sixth inning, but with the Harper coming up and every run feeling like a dozen runs, the Mets had to bring in Aaron Loup in that spot in the game.
While the Mets’ offensive woes have been a glaring issue over the past week, they have been an issue in Stroman’s starts all year. Despite his 2.83 ERA being 12th best in baseball, only Jorge Lopez of the 38-70 Baltimore Orioles has more losses than Stroman’s 11. The team has only scored a total of 12 runs across his 11 losses. If the Mets’ bats came around and scored some runs in Stroman’s starts, he could have potentially had a season that Mets fans viewed in a much more positive light. Instead, the Mets found their new pitcher to give no run support to while Jacob deGrom is out.
