The Mets (2-3) were unable to stop the Braves (5-0) on Saturday night, losing 5-3 in the house of horrors that is Turner Field.
Dillon Gee got his first start of the year and was ineffective, allowing five runs on eight hits, striking out two while walking none. Gee got off to a good start, but struggled after the first time through the order, which is something we have certainly seen before.
Julio Teheran pitched for undefeated Kentucky Atlanta and had an interesting outing. The Mets, who have had their moments against Teheran in the past, made a lot of fruitless solid contact. Curtis Granderson and David Wright each put good wood on the ball to start the game, but Eric Young was there to catch it each time. Lucas Duda was more fortunate, as his liner found the gap for a double, but Cuddyer whiffed to strand the big lefty.
Gee had an easy inning in the bottom of the first, but Met Killer Freddie Freeman led off the home half of the second with a homer which gave the Braves a lead they would never relinquish. Gee got through the rest of the frame with the help of a double-play, but the Mets would get a taste of their own medicine when Wilmer Flores— on second after a walk and a nice sacrifice bunt from Gee— was doubled off on a liner from Granderson.
Gee very nearly became the latest Met pitcher to be done in by his defense in the bottom of the fourth, but worked around a pair of mental lapses from his not-so-golden-gloved middle-infield combo of Wilmer Flores and Daniel Murphy.
Determined not to leave Turner Field without a series loss, Gee would do himself in with his implosion in the next inning. The Braves abused the right field line like their fans abuse that insufferable chop song, to the tune of four runs. Alberto Callaspo led off with a blooper that dropped just inside the line for a double. Christian Bethancourt grounded one down the line for a double of his own to score Callaspo, and Andrelton Simmons ripped one for a double that sent Granderson scrambling to the corner once more as Bethancourt raced home. Teheran laid down a bunt to put Simmons on third, and Eric Young tripled down the aforementioned right field line to put Atlanta up 4-0. Gee got Jace Peterson to ground out on a ball too soft and shallow for EY to score, but the former Met would race home moments later, scoring on Nick Markakis‘ single to— you guessed it— right field. Gee finally escaped the inning (and extended his streak of 5+ inning outings to an MLB-high 47) by retiring Freeman (of all people).
Alex Torres worked a scoreless bottom of the sixth, so the Mets came up against Teheran in the top of the seventh still down 5-0. Duda singled for his (and the team’s) second hit of the day, and the game was halted briefly as Teheran appeared to injure his leg. Teheran stayed in, but did not retire another batter. Cuddyer and Murphy each worked walks to load the bases, and Juan Lagares reached on an error as Callaspo got ahead of himself while trying to make a play on Duda, who scored to make it 5-1. Teheran then plunked Travis d’Arnaud in the back before being pulled for reliever Brandon Cunniff with a 5-2 lead and the tying run on first.
Wilmer Flores was the first to face Cunniff, and the polarizing youngster’s tough season continued when he grounded into a double-play on the first pitch, taking the air out of what had been a very promising rally. Murphy scored on the play to make it 5-3 as Lagares moved to third, but the Mets would do no more damage. Kirk Nieuwenhuis came into pinch-hit and was promptly replaced by Ruben Tejada when Braves manager Fredi González countered with lefty Luis Avilan. Tejada made solid contact in his first at-bat of the year, but sent it right to Kelly Johnson at third, and the versatile veteran fired it to Freeman at first to retire the side.
Sean Gilmartin came in to pitch after the Stretch and did well, getting five outs before Erik Goeddel entered for the final out of the eighth. The Mets got a baserunner in the top of the ninth when Lagares reached on an infield single, but with the tying run at the plate, d’Arnaud grounded out to Simmons to end the ballgame.
The last two games have been frustrating, and have each ended with the same 5-3 score (of course, nothing will ever match the four consecutive 2-1 losses we had several years ago). The offense woke up late to get us back in the ballgame, but it wasn’t enough. I won’t rip on Flores here because he’s been talked about ad nauseam (and everywhere), but that double-play was a huge letdown. I liked how he was aggressive, going after the first pitch from the new pitcher, but it just didn’t work out.
Once again, the Mets had a lot of well-hit balls turn into outs. Nothing you can do about that. Lucas Duda, who had 2 of the Mets’ 3 hits (the third was a cheapie from Juan), has been swinging the bat well, and others such as d’Arnaud and Wright are looking good at the plate, but for the most part, they aren’t getting results (Of course, 3 runs on 3 hits is a pretty solid ratio).
The defense wasn’t disastrous in this one, but it wasn’t pretty, either. If the Mets want to use the Royals model of “pitching and defense,” they’ll need to actually be competent when it comes to the latter. And the starting pitching, while good (although not tonight, of course), won’t be good enough to sustain a weak offense (I plan to discuss this at further length at some point in the next few days). But that has been the storyline for years, hasn’t it? The Mets need to hit to win. And they need to hit it “where they ain’t,” as the saying goes.
The bullpen was good today, as it has been all season. This game was not without its positives.
But we need wins. And contrary to popular belief, the Braves are not going to provide us with 19 wins— or the 17 possible wins remaining. Neither are the Phillies, as hard as they might try. There are as many games played out of the division as there are in it, so all this math where people predict the Mets’ record against each of their four divisional rivals is pointless. The Braves won’t go 162-0, and while they certainly haven’t looked like pushovers in the early going, there’s a good chance they’ll lose more games than they win. What matters is how many the Mets have won after they’ve played 162. If they routinely win 2 out of 3 like they did against the Nationals, they’ll be elite. If they lose 2 (or 3) out of 3 the rest of the way, we’ll be running the entire franchise out of Queens with pitchforks.
The Mets are 2-3. The Braves are 5-0. I honestly couldn’t tell you what the rest of the standings look like, because I haven’t checked. Because it doesn’t matter. It’s early. Too early to panic. So this was a frustrating loss (as all losses are), but if you try to extract too much meaning from it, you’ll end up with false conclusions. Let’s salvage one and head home with a 500 record.
Up Next: The Mets will wrap up their series with the Braves on Sunday at 1:35 PM. Bartolo Colon (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will face Alex Wood (1-0, 3.60 ERA) at Turner Field.
Photo Credit: John Amis, AP
