The Mets (30-26) fell 7-2 to the Diamondbacks (26-28) on Friday night in Arizona.
Jon Niese pitched for the Mets and finally turned in a solid outing, pitching six innings of three-run ball, allowing six hits and walking one while striking out eight.
The Mets grabbed an early lead when Michael Cuddyer took Jeremy Hellickson deep for a solo shot in the top of the second. But Arizona answered back in the bottom of the third, scoring when, with a runner on third, AJ Pollock lined one up the middle which Niese put his glove on but could not reel in.
The Mets took the lead again in the top of the fourth on hits from Wilmer Flores, Juan Lagares, and Eric Campbell (Soup’s first in 18 days), but could not capitalize further after grabbing the 2-1 edge.
The Diamondbacks tied it up and then took the lead for good against Niese in the bottom of the sixth. After Pollock doubled, Paul Goldschmidt hit an RBI single to make it 2-2. Yasmany Tomás came up next and hit one to left that took a funny carom in the corner and skittered away from Cuddyer. Cuddyer unleashed an absolute rocket of a throw to the plate, but Goldschmidt slid in just ahead of the tag to give the D-Backs a 3-2 lead.
The Mets failed to respond against Arizona’s bullpen, and the hosts put the game away in the bottom of the eighth. Carlos Torres, pitching his second inning of relief, allowed a triple (Curtis Granderson nearly made an incredible play, but could not finish the catch), a double, and an intentional walk, before Jack Leathersich entered facing a 4-2 deficit and a tough jam. The Diamondbacks pulled off a double-steal to put runners on second and third, and Leathersich issued a walk to load the bases with still nobody out in the inning. Erik Goeddel came in and surrendered a single to Aaron Hill to make it 5-2, and then a sacrifice fly that plated Arizona’s sixth run as Goldschmidt trotted home from third against Lagares’ damaged arm. After a wild pitch made it 7-2, the Mets finally got out of the inning before going quietly into the night (early morning on the East Coast) in the ninth.
Well, Niese wasn’t terrible. Heck, he was good. That’s good for him. And the team. And his trade value. But it didn’t do us much good tonight.
The bullpen was horrendous in the eighth inning. The Met bullpens of recent years have made a habit of turning small deficits into huge gaps in the late innings, taking away their chance to stage a comeback. They haven’t done it too much this season, but tonight was a harsh example.
I can’t stand the outfield in Arizona’s stadium. It’s too big, and there are so many crazy angles. It’s like the original Citi Field with a swimming pool. Cuddyer got a bad break with that bounce on Tomás’ double. But the throw he made to the plate was incredible, and if he had been able to get to the ball a half-second earlier, he would have nailed Goldschmidt and been credited with one of the best defensive plays of the year. Granderson’s arm has proven to be weak (as has Lagares’, but stay tuned for a post on that early Saturday morning), so I really don’t see why Cuddy isn’t playing Right Field at this point.
Eric Campbell snapped his 28-at-bat hitless streak, but started a different one— his RBI single in the fourth was the team’s final hit of the game.
The Diamondbacks have a lot more firepower in their offense than the Mets. I can deal with that when we’re facing the MLB’s powerhouses, but this is a sub-500 team. It’s frustrating to see them sporting a lineup so much deeper than ours. Goldschmidt is obviously incredible, Tomás can hit… the guy I had no idea about until this series was Pollock, who has looked phenomenal.
The Mets have had some awesome nights at Chase Field. Friday wasn’t one of them.
Up Next: The Mets will continue their series with the Diamondbacks on Saturday night in Arizona. Bartolo Colon (8-3, 4.72 ERA) will face Chase Anderson (1-1, 3.26 ERA) at 10:10 PM.
