The Mets (48-54) were crushed by the Brewers (58-45) on Thursday night in Milwaukee, losing 9-1 at Miller Park.
Dillon Gee got the start for the Mets and struggled for the 2nd time in a row. Gee allowed 6 runs on 6 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings, striking out 6 and throwing 91 pitches.
Milwaukee struck first with a solo shot from Jonathan Lucroy in the bottom of the opening frame against Gee, and kept piling it on after that. Jean Segura hit a 2-run triple after Gee issued a pair of walks in the bottom of the 2nd, and scored on a base hit from former Met Carlos Gomez, who would steal 2nd and come in to score on a single from Lucroy to make it 5-0 Brewers. Milwaukee would push the lead to 6th in the bottom of the 3rd thanks to 1-out doubles by Rickie Weeks and Khris Davis, before Gee finally settled in and put up 2 perfect innings to make it through 5.
Meanwhile, the Mets could muster nothing against Matt Garza. Wilmer Flores, making his return from the minor leagues, knocked a single in the 3rd inning, but that would stand as New York’s only hit for much of the night.
Terry Collins elected to pinch-hit for Gee in the top of the 6th, and sent in Daisuke Matsuzaka to pitch the bottom of the inning. Davis greeted Dice-K with a shot over the wall in left-center, but Matsuzaka bounced back to get through the rest of the inning.
The Mets got on the board in the top of the 7th when Lucas Duda hit a solo shot to center, but that was all their offense would provide on the night.
Matsuzaka came back out for the bottom of the 7th and, with Gomez on first, served up a fat one to Ryan Braun, who injected it deep into the second deck to make it 9-1 Milwaukee. That would become the final score, as a rally was not in the cards for the Mets.
Duda’s having a nice season, and went yard again tonight. However, I’m pretty sure he would have drawn less criticism from the Mets e-fanbase had he struck out in the 7th, rather than hitting a solo shot with a 7-run deficit. Whatever…
In Gee’s last start, he got off to a rocky beginning, settled down to get through the 4th and 5th innings, and was pulled for a mediocre pinch-hitter with nobody on base in the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th, the man brought in to relieve Gee gave up a long-ball to the first batter. That happens to be exactly what happened tonight, as well. Terry used to pull Dillon too late in close games. Now he’s pulling him too early in blowouts. Gee hasn’t pitched much the last few months. Let him build his arm strength back up by staying in the game, especially once he starts to find his groove. Please, Terry… I beg you.
Our offense has scored 15 runs in the 7 games since the All-Star Break, after a red-hot stretch at Citi Field before the vacation. It’s a bit frustrating, since things are usually the other way around, but I guess I’d rather have them hit like a competent team at home, in front of the fans. Ideally, we could be decent in all stadiums, though…
This game will probably hurt the ol’ run differential, huh, Sandy? Let’s get it back tomorrow.
Up next: The Mets will look to even their series with the Brewers on Friday night in Milwaukee. Zack Wheeler (5-8, 3.78 ERA) will face Yovani Gallardo (5-5, 3.79 ERA) at 8:10 PM.
