Once again, the Mets got stellar starting pitching, and once again, the bullpen was solid with the exception of Jose Valverde, but unfortunately, as has happened far too often this early season, once again, the Mets bats fell silent. The Cardinals got a brilliant pitching performance by Adam Wainwright, who was forced to leave the game after seven innings due to an apparent knee injury, and beat the Mets 3-0.
With the loss, the Mets fall back to .500 at 10-10. They wasted a strong outing by Dillon Gee who pitched six innings of two run baseball. Curtis Granderson seems incapable of breaking out of his current slump, going 0-3, and extending his hitless streak to 22 straight at-bats. David Wright had a rare 0-4 night, breaking his 12-game hitting streak. The Mets and Cards will go back at it tomorrow night with Jon Niese facing Michael Wacha.
Key Play
It was a little too reminiscent of 2006. In a strange coincidence of characters and theatrics, Adam Wainwright had a curveball hit for what looked like a game-tying home run untll Matt Holiday stole it from the top of the wall. Of course, it was nowhere close to as spectacular as Endy Chavez play.
Starter Focus
Dillon Gee
It took 95 pitches for Gee to reach six innings of work. He allowed only two runs on six hits, struck out four, and walked two. He got lots of swings on his breaking pitches, but only one swing-and-miss on the curveball. The key was 17 of 25 batters he threw first pitch strikes.
Adam Wainwright
Wainwright was sharp through seven innings before landing awkwardly while running towards first base, forcing him out of the game. He only needed 79 pitches to retire the Mets with ease, allowing only four baserunners.
Win Probability Chart courtesy of FanGraphs. Detailed pitching data courtesy of Brooks Baseball.
