The Mets kicked off a four-game series at Citi Field against the Brewers, who came into the night with Major League Baseball’s 25th-ranked offense, with a deflating 2-1 loss. On a day the pitching only gives up two runs, the Mets offense could not take advantage and managed to muster just one run on three hits.
The Mets have now gone 5-16 in their last 21 games and are 16 games behind the Braves for first place. They have fallen to eight games below .500 for the first time this year.
Justin Verlander got the start for New York and struggled in the first inning, allowing two hits and a walk to load the bases for Milwaukee with one out. The veteran stranded all three runners to work out of the jam, and settled into a groove. He ended his night with five hits, no runs, two walks, and five strikeouts. Despite the scoreless outing, Verlander did not have his best stuff as he threw 59 strikes on 100 pitches in five innings.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
“It’s disappointing for the fans – just got to keep trying,” Verlander told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “If there’s one thing I know the guys in this room are doing is trying their ass off. Every day we come to the park and for myself, it’s trying to get better figure out what’s off and I know that for most of the guys in this room it’s the same way. Hopefully, it clicks for everybody.”
New York got its first hit in the fourth, and picked up the club’s only run of the night on a Francisco Lindor sacrifice fly that scored Starling Marte. The Mets’ only three hits of the night from Marte, Brett Baty, and Lindor were all singles.
Despite recent woes, the Mets bullpen managed to hold Milwaukee to just two runs scored on Monday evening. In his return from suspension, Drew Smith relieved Verlander in the sixth and gave up a two-run homer to Joey Wiemer to give Milwaukee the 2-1 lead. Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley, and David Robertson each tossed a scoreless inning after a questionable decision by Buck Showalter to not use any of them in last night’s loss to Philadelphia.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
“No, those guys weren’t available. We deemed them before the game. They were available tonight,” Showalter told Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “I don’t know what else we could’ve done, so that doesn’t make much sense.”
Player of the Game
Justin Verlander earns Monday’s honor, after dealing through some trouble to toss five shutout innings. His ERA stands at 4.11 on the year.
On Deck
David Peterson takes the mound on Tuesday for New York. The left-hander has a 6.00 ERA over his last five starts at Triple-A Syracuse, but he was the Mets’ only real candidate after they used Joey Lucchesi at length earlier this weekend.
Julio Teheran gets the start for the Brewers. In his last time out, he tossed five innings and allowed just two hits, with four walks and two strikeouts against the Diamondbacks.
First pitch for Tuesday night’s game is set for 7:10 p.m. ET. The game will be available to watch on SNY and can be listened to on WCBS 880.
