The New York Mets’ offense continues to be extremely inconsistent and that flashed once again on Sunday at Citi Field. The Mets were shutout for the second time over the last three days, 1-0, and were consequently swept by the Athletics. With the loss, New York drops to 7-9 on the young season.
Freddy Peralta toed the rubber for the Mets and turned in a very strong outing. There was some turbulence early on, as Peralta allowed a solo home run to Nick Kurtz in the third and traffic on the bases saw his pitch count balloon to 73 through four innings. However, he fought through and, overall, went six innings and allowed only four hits and the one run. Peralta struck out six and walked three. His ERA sits at a respectable 3.86 on the season.
A notably play defensively, and one of the reasons why Peralta only allowed one run was a spectacular diving play by centerfielder Carson Benge. Benge got a great jump on a ball Denzel Clarke muscled out to centerfield in the fourth inning and took away a potential two-out hit. If the ball found the grass, two Athletics would have scored pushing the score to 3-0. However, Benge gave his team a chance as the game prolonged.
Following Peralta, Sean Manaea showcased terrific stuff. Manaea worked the remaining three innings and struck out four. He was perfect over his three innings of work, not allowing a single base runner. He did this while still averaging less than 90 mph on his fastball.
Offensively, it was more of the same for the Mets. They only mustered four hits en route to being shutout for the second time in the series against the Athletics. Sunday marked the eight time this season the Mets have scored three runs of fewer.
Player of the Game: Sean Manaea
One of the rare bright points, along with starting pitcher Freddy Peralta, was the performance of Sean Manaea in relief. Manaea finished the game off with three perfect innings and four strikeouts. Despite still averaging below 90 mph on his fastball, he flashed one of his better performances in quite sometime.
On Deck
The Mets quickly head out west for a showdown with the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers. The first of three games in Los Angeles is set for a 10:10 pm ET first pitch on Monday. The projected pitching matchup is David Peterson versus Justin Wrobleski. The Mets will travel to Chicago following the series in Los Angeles.
