The New York Mets (76-68) were defeated by the Washington Nationals (86-58) by a score of 8-1 at Nationals Park Monday evening. The Cardinals were getting no-hit in the ninth inning at the time of this writing. With a Cardinals loss, the Mets would hold the second wild card spot by a half a game.
Pitching:
Rafael Montero was on the hill for the Mets tonight and he struggled mightily. Montero has been having a hard time lately but this was easily the worst he’s looked yet. Montero went 1.2 innings giving up six runs while walking four and striking out two putting the game out of reach before the Mets had a chance.
Gabriel Ynoa came in and tried to calm things down but he also allowed 2 runs over two innings making the score 8-1 through 4 innings.
Sean Gilmartin came in and pitched a perfect 5th and 6th innings.
Logan Verrett came on in the seventh and pitched a scoreless inning. Verrett and Josh Edgin combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning as well.
Offense:
In the top of the first inning, it all started off so well for the Mets. Jose Reyes lead the game off with a double on a line drive to right field. Asdrubal Cabrera grounded out but moved Reyes to third. Yoenis Cespedes was able to hit a sacrifice fly to center field to bring in Reyes and give the Mets the early 1-0 lead.
That would be all for the Mets offense and most of the regulars were pulled fairly early in the game.
Notes:
Wally Backman and the Mets parted ways today. There are conflicting reports as to if Backman was fired or if he left on his own accords.
On Deck:
The Mets will play their second game of a three-game set with the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park tomorrow evening. The game has a start time of 7:05 PM. Noah Syndergaard (13-8, 2.48 ERA), will look to get the Mets back on track against A.J. Cole (1-2, 4.56 ERA).
