The Detroit Tigers are just one more win away from completing a three-game sweep of the Mets after beating them 3-0 on Saturday evening at Citi Field.
Matt Harvey started for the Mets and the Tigers had no problems knocking him around, and despite only scoring two runs off the Mets’ ace, they roughed him up for a career-high 13 hits over his 6.2 innings of work. Harvey never looked comfortable and was in and out of trouble for most of his outing, but he did keep the Tigers from adding anymore runs and sort of finished strong although he left the game with the bases loaded in the seventh and couldn’t get the final out of the inning.
Harvey walked none and struck out four while suffering his fifth loss of the season against nine wins. The Mets are now 13-13 in games started by Harvey. Scott Rice relieved Harvey and got the last out in the seventh, but Gonzalez Germen got touched up for another run in the ninth.
But none of that mattered as the Mets offense was helpless against Max Scherzer. The righthander, who improved to 19-1 for the season, struck out eleven in his six scoreless innings of work and held the Mets to just three hits, two of them by Ike Davis.
The Tigers bullpen was even more effective as they combined for three hitless innings and preserved their 3-0 victory with closer Joaquin Benoit earning his 17th save of the season.
The Mets only had one real opportunity to do some damage in the sixth when they loaded the bases with one out, but Juan Lagares struck out and John Buck popped up to end the threat.
Harvey admitted that he was tired and the rigors of his first full season might be taking its toll on him.
“I’m getting pretty tired, but so is everybody,” Harvey said. “You have to work through it and you have to deal with it. It’s a long season. You have to figure out how to get things done. My performance the last couple of starts has been pretty terrible. I’ve got to work through it and get better.”
“Today, I couldn’t a throw a slider for a strike. I couldn’t really throw it that well at all. It’s a pitch that I need. The last couple of starts I haven’t had it. I figure everybody is going to go through a stretch there where you’ve got to battle through some fatigue and some discomfort. It’s a long season — 162 games — and you’ve got to push through it.”
Dillon Gee, who has been the Mets’ best pitcher since the All Star break, will get the assignment on Sunday and oppose right-hander Rick Porcello to avoid the sweep. First pitch is at 1:10 PM.
