The Mets (29-35) beat the Brewers (38-27) by a score of 6-2 on Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Daisuke Matsuzaka got the start for New York and was solid, giving up a run on 3 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings, striking out 5 and tossing 100 pitches.
Dice-K ran into trouble in the top of the 1st, allowing walks to both Ryan Braun and Carlos Gomez to give Milwaukee an early opportunity. However, Matsuzaka got Aramis Ramirez (who Gary Cohen seems to think is an MLB legend) to fly out and end the frame.
Ruben Tejada hit one to the edge of the warning track to lead off the home half of the first, but missed getting his 3rd homer in the past 2 weeks by a couple feet.
After Matsuzaka cruised through the top of the 2nd, Chris Young caught the Brewers by surprise by laying down a bunt, and caught us all by surprise by reaching first base. Young later stole second, but Lucas Duda and Taylor Teagarden (who was making his first start of the season) were unable to drive CY in.
Dice-K got into another jam in the top of the 3rd, giving up a single to his counterpart, Marco Estrada, and another hit to Estrada’s batterymate, Jonathan Lucroy. Gomez came to the plate with a chance to do some damage, but the former Met grounded out to Wright to end the threat.
After Ruben Tejada worked a two-out walk in the bottom of the third, Daniel Murphy opened the scoring with an opposite-field shot to right, putting the Mets up 2-0.
Dice-K gave one of those runs right back in the top of the 4th, hitting Khris Davis and giving up a double to Lyle Overbay to make the score 2-1. However, Overbay made a baserunning blunder and was thrown out trying to advance to third on a grounder to short, helping Matsuzaka escape the inning with the lead intact.
Both pitchers settled in and cruised until the bottom of the 6th. Estrada opened the inning by retiring Murphy before walking both David Wright and Curtis Granderson. Estrada fanned Chris Young for the second out before issuing a free pass to Duda. Teagarden continued a Met tradition by coming to the plate in a huge spot during his first start with the team, but broke a more sacred Met tradition by coming through with runners on base. Teagarden hit a 1-2 fastball deep to right and cleared the wall by about a foot for a grand slam, making it 6-1 New York.
Vic Black came in to replace Matsuzaka and got through the 7th with the help of a well-turned double-play. The Mets tried to add on a run in the bottom of the inning after a double by Tejada and a walk by Murphy put 2 more runners on base, but Wright and Grandy failed to provide the Mets with any insurance, and the two teams moved on to the 8th.
Jeurys Familia came in to pitch for the Mets and quickly gave up a single to Scooter Gennett before striking out Braun. Familia then hit Lucroy, bringing Gomez to the plate with runners on 1st and 2nd. Gomez doubled to center to cut the Mets’ lead to 6-2 and put 2 runners in scoring position, but Jeurys stepped up and fanned both Ramirez and Davis to get out of the jam.
Jenrry Mejia came in to pitch the top of the 9th, looking to close things out for the Mets. Mejia got Overbay to line out to Young and got Segura to hit a weak grounder to Tejada before striking out Irving Falu to end the ballgame and snap the Mets’ 6-game losing streak.
I’m gonna crunch the numbers again, but I’m pretty sure we finished with more runs than the opposing team, which hasn’t happened in awhile. That’s a good thing, right?
Dice-K was solid in this game. He wasn’t dominant, but he was solid. He gave us 6 innings and got the job done. He’s a veteran and he knows exactly what his role on the team is: go out there and pitch whenever he’s needed and give us a chance to win. Nice stuff from Matsuzaka, and he definitely earned himself that win.
Home runs, guys! Aren’t they awesome? The Mets didn’t exactly hit their homers to the deepest parts of the ballpark, but when you hit line drives and hit them hard, good things will eventually happen. It looks like the hitters are starting to figure this out… even Ruben Tejada, who was been swinging much better of late.
I still think Travis d’Arnaud is the catcher of the future, and he should be back before too long if he stays healthy. But while he’s working things out in Triple-A, the Mets need other guys to step up, and Teagarden definitely did that in his first start as a Met. He won’t hit a grand slam every game, but if he can put the ball in play and go the other way, good things should happen.
That losing streak was unacceptable. The Brewers have been playing well this season and the Mets have struggled at home, but they made things work tonight. Hopefully they can string some wins together and make this season interesting again.
Up Next:
The Mets will face the Brewers again on Wednesday night at Citi Field. Jacob deGrom (0-2, 3.19 ERA) will face off against Wily Peralta (5-5, 3.03 ERA) at 7:10 PM.
(Photo Credit: Frank Franklin II/AP)
