The New York Mets fell to the Kansas City Royals in heartbreaking fashion on Halloween night by a score of 5-3. The Metropolitans now find themselves on the brink of elimination as they head into Game 5 of the World Series down 3-1.
Pitching:
Steven Matz started for the Mets and went 5+ innings and was impressive in the first World Series start of career. Matz looked dominant through the first 4 innings of the game before finding himself and getting himself out of some trouble in the fifth. The Long Islander started off the sixth before giving up a lead-off double to Ben Zobrist, followed by a single by Lorenzo Cain to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
The final line on Matz was mostly positive with 5+ innings pitched while allowing seven hits, while allowing two runs and striking out five. Not a bad showing for a guy who started his season in the minor leagues and just months later is pitching in the World Series.
Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon relieved the Mets rookie starter and did tremendous work retiring the three Royals they saw and preserving a 3-2 lead for the time being. Addison Reed came on to pitch the seventh and continued his hot streak of dominance by retiring the Royals in order.
The dreaded eighth. Tyler Clippard started off the inning in nice fashion with a quick out of Alcides Escobar. The Mets set-up man then went onto walk his next two batters. Terry Collins taking no chances turned to closer, Jeurys Familia. Eric Hosmer chopped a ball to second basemen Daniel Murphy, who watched the ball go under his glove and tying the game at 3-3. Mike Moustakas and Salvador Perez each followed up with singles staking the Royals to a 5-3 lead which was all they would need.
Hansel Robles pitched the ninth and struck out two of the three batters he faced.
Offense:
There is only one thing to talk about with the Mets offense in Game 4 and that is rookie, Michael Conforto. The left-fielder mashed two home-runs on the night, both solo shots that were crushed. A great showing for Conforto on a big stage. His hits accounted for two of the four Mets hits on the night. This kid is going to be one heck of a player.
The Royals bullpen did what they did best and shut down the opposition from the sixth inning on. The Mets were not able to muster any offense against what has been an unstoppable force in the 2015 postseason.
Wade Davis came on for the final six outs of the game, and had a smooth eighth but found himself into some trouble in the ninth. After David Wright led off the inning with a strike-out, Daniel Murphy “singled” to get a rally started. Yoenis Cespedes followed up with his own single, bringing Lucas Duda to the plate as the winning run. Duda floated one to Mike Moustakas in what seemed like the second out of the inning but Cespedes broke for second on the play and was doubled off to end the game on a mental base-running error.
Notes:
The Mets need to find a way and dig down deep now as they find themselves in quite the hole to crawl out of. Coming off another heart breaking loss in the series this team needs to be the resilient team we have all come to love this year and battle back.
This team needs to scratch and claw, score runs and keep the Royals off the board. It seems each came Matt Harvey has pitched in the postseason its been more and more magnified and none will be more looked at than tomorrow night, as the pressure will never be higher.
On Deck:
The Mets look to stave off elimination tomorrow in Game 5 of the World Series. The Dark Knight, Matt Harvey will take the mound for the Mets in the biggest game in the history of Citi Field. Harvey will be opposed by Edinson Volquez for the 8:00 PM EST start.
