The Mets (16-9) were shut out by the Nationals (11-14) on Saturday night, losing 1-0 at Citi Field.
Jon Niese pitched for the Mets and pitched well. The lefty tossed seven innings of one-run ball, working around nine hits and a walk while striking out five.
But Gio Gonzalez pitched even better for Washington. After Niese worked in and out of trouble in the top of the first, Gio did the same in the home half, with some help from Jayson Werth, who unleashed a laser from left field that nailed Juan Lagares at the plate as he tried to score on Lucas Duda‘s double.
The Nats scored the game’s only run in the top of the second. A pair of singles and a bunt put runners on second and third with two outs and Michael Taylor at the plate. Daniel Murphy dived to get a glove on Taylor’s sharp grounder to third and knock it down, but was unable to play the ball cleanly, and a run scored on the infield single.
Both teams threatened several more times, to no avail. New York got runners on second and third with two out in the fifth, but Lucas Duda grounded into the shift to end the threat. Niese had some tough luck in the top of the sixth (a potential double-play ball finding the tiny space between Dilson Herrera and Ruben Tejada, and a laughable blown call on a two-strike pitch down the middle,) but escaped the jam with the help of instant replay and nice plays from Murphy and Tejada.
The Mets might have had a chance in the bottom of the sixth, but Herrera was thrown out trying to turn an infield single into a double (don’t worry, it wasn’t as ridiculous as it sounds). Gio denied the hosts again in the seventh, and although Carlos Torres pitched two perfect innings after Niese’s departure, the Mets could muster nothing against the Washington bullpen, and the visitors held on to take a 2-1 series lead.
Niese didn’t have a pretty outing, but he had a good one. Seven innings, one run. His ERA is now 1.87. His sabermetric stats can be horrible for all I care… until those translate into runs scored by the opposition, they mean nothing (yes, I realize the point is that they are indicative of a high likelihood that runs will be scoring before long, but let’s see those runners cross the plate, first.) If anything, Niese had BAD luck tonight with his defense, the ump, and other things pitcher’s can’t control. But he fought through it. Nice outing. I’ll take it from my middle-of-the-rotation starters all day long.
The offense? Not so good. It hasn’t been good at ALL lately, not since the winning streak ended. We got away with it last night, but it wasn’t in the cards tonight. A couple key hitters are injured right now, and others were on the bench for a rest today, but that’s no excuse to get shut out. They had six hits and worked a couple walks, and hit a couple balls hard right to Washington gloves, so it wasn’t like NOTHING was happening with the bats. But nothing tangible was happening. Like I said, it’s about the runs.
Niese failed to get a bunt down in the fifth, and it might have cost the team a run. If only we could just send an extra hitter to the plate like they do in the AL. It would solve the Murphy dilemma and the “Catcher of the future” conundrum, too.
Although I like Niese more than most people, I was surprised that he kept getting out of those jams. He’s a good pitcher, but when he does get in trouble, he often struggles to steady the ship, and he was in trouble all night.
Looks like we won’t be winning this series. Let’s see if we can pull out a split.
Up Next: The Mets will look to avoid losing their third straight series when they wrap up their four-game set with the Nationals tomorrow at Citi Field. Dillon Gee (0-1, 4.26 ERA) will face Doug Fister (1-1, 3.28 ERA) at 1:10 PM.
