The Mets (46-51) lost to the Padres (42-55) by a score of 6-0 on Saturday night in San Diego.
Dillon Gee got the start for the Mets and struggled, allowing 4 (3 earned) runs on 5 hits in 5 innings. Gee struck out 8 and walked none, but a pair of solo home runs and an error ended up hurting him.
The Padres got on the board first in the bottom of the 2nd when Yasmani Grandal led off the frame with a shot over the wall in right-center. Gee gave up another leadoff hit, this time a single, in the bottom of the 3rd, but a nice play by David Wright to nab the lead runner on a sacrifice bunt attempt seemed to give Gee a chance to settle down. However, the Padres got two more quick hits and a pair of runs against Dillon, thanks in part to an errant throw to third base by Kirk Nieuwenhuis. San Diego got to Gee again in the bottom of the 4th, thanks to a leadoff homer from Will Venable.
The Mets went hitless against Tyson Ross for the first 4 innings, and Travis d’Arnaud was lucky to break it up leading off the top of the 5th. TDA hit a slow dribbler up the 3rd base line, and Headley elected to let it roll, hoping it would go foul. The ball, however, ended up bouncing off of the bag, and Travis was on with a cheap single. The Mets would not make anything of the lucky break, however, as d’Arnaud was erased on a double-pkay.
Gee settled in a bit and ended up striking out 5 of the final 6 batters he faced, but Terry Collins pulled him in the top of the 6th after 80 pitches for pinch-hitter Eric Young. Young worked a walk, but was caught stealing on the next pitch and the Mets once again did not score.
Carlos Torres came in to replace Gee and pitch the bottom of the 6th, was greeted with a home run by Seth Smith, San Diego’s 3rd leadoff shot of the ballgame.
The Mets threatened to break through in the top of the 7th, against Ross. A single from Lucas Duda and a walk drawn by Kirk put men on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. Juan Lagares lined a single into right field, but with 2 outs and a 5-run deficit, Tim Teufel decided to play it safe and held Duda up at 3rd. Ruben Tejada came up to the plate with the bases loaded, but Ross struck him out to end the threat.
After Torres pitched a scoreless bottom of the 7th, the Mets got a runner in scoring position in the top of the 8th when Daniel Murphy hit a hard shot to the wall in right which bounced off of a lunging Venable’s glove and was scored a double. However, Murphy would not come in to score, as David Wright flew out to end the inning.
The Padres got one more insurance run in the bottom of the 8th against Josh Edgin. Headley led off with a liner down the left-field line, and Kirk was unable to throw him out at 2nd due to a bit of a bobble as he tried to pick up the ball. Headley advanced to 3rd on a sacrifice fly which sent Lagares to the wall, and scored on a passed ball by d’Arnaud.
The Mets got a baserunner in the top of the 9th against Blaine Boyer when d’Arnaud lined a hard shot which went under the glove of Chris Nelson at 2nd for an error, but were unable to muster a rally and succumbed to the shutout.
It’s not the reason we lost tonight, but the Mets made several mistakes in the field tonight, and they really have to focus on tightening up their defense. When the game is closer, bad defense will stick out like a sore thumb.
Gee didn’t really have his best stuff tonight. Still, I would have liked to see him stay in the game longer for a few reasons. First of all, why pinch-hit so early with nobody on and a 4-run deficit, especially when the guy you’re bringing in is barely hitting 230? Granted, Young did work a pinch-hit walk, but he was immediately thrown out trying to steal 2nd, so… Gee could have made an out just as easily. More importantly, however, Gee hasn’t gotten much work lately. He missed nearly 2 months with an injury. He made 1 start after returning from the DL and then had another layoff due to the All-Star Break. Now, he comes back, pitching for the 1st time in 10 days and the 2nd time in 2 months, and he only gets to throw 80 pitches? He’s not going to build his arm strength back up by sitting in the dugout, Terry.
The offense never got it going tonight, as Tyson Ross stymied the Mets’ bats all night long. When we finally got the bases loaded in the top of the 7th, it was with 2 outs and our number 8 hitter at the plate. Sigh…
The guy the Padres put in to pitch the top of the 9th looked a lot like Justin Turner, if Turner had a beard. I better not be the only person who noticed this. Come to think of it, Turner did have a beard for awhile. Justin? Is that you?
A pretty bleak game, overall. The Mets never seemed to be “in it”. Hopefully they’ll bounce back tomorrow.
Also, stay tuned for our MMO 1st Half Grades, which will go up tomorrow at noon!
Up Next: The Mets will try to take the rubber game of their series with the Padres tomorrow at 4:10 PM. Zack Wheeler (5-8, 3.90 ERA) will face Odrisamer Despaigne (2-1, 1.35 ERA) at PETCO Park.
