Pitching Struggles Again, Mets Lose 13-6 In Series Finale

The New York Mets (17-18) finished off their three-game set against the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon. On a sunny day at Citi Field in Flushing, NY the Mets got woeful pitching and allowed 13 runs in a 13-6 series finale loss. The Mets drop to under .500 for the first time since the beginning of the season.

New York’s first inning pitching woes continued. Randal Grichuk launched a second-deck solo shot off Mets’ starter Joey Lucchesi. As has been in the case in several games this season, the Mets trailed 1-0 right off the bat.

In what was an extremely rare occurrence this season, the Mets experienced an offensive outburst in the opening frame. Jeff McNeil lined a run scoring hit to bring home the New York’s first run of the game. Then, Brett Baty – in his new slot in the batting order (fifth) – singled home two more runs.

Just like that, New York had a rare multiple run lead after the first inning, 3-1. Interestingly enough, before the outburst, New York only had six first inning runs all season long. They scored half that on Sunday in the opening frame.

The Mets’ starters’ struggles continued. In the third inning, Lucchesi gave up two run thanks to three hits. This tied the game back up. Through three innings, Lucchesi’s pitch total stood at a hefty 58. This spelled the end of his afternoon, as he allowed three runs, four hits, and walked three over just four innings of work. His season ERA increased to 4.43 as his struggles since his first start of the season continued.

New York responded in the fourth inning after they loaded the bases. As a result, they chased Rockies’ starter Ryan Feltner after only 3 1/3 innings of work as the team drew six walks. McNeil tallied an infield single which brought home the Mets’ fourth run of the game. Though, Brett Baty hit a hard ground ball to the pitcher which ended the inning with the bases loaded. The Mets led 4-3 after four innings.

The Rockies responded right back and stormed to a large lead with a huge seven-run inning. Jimmy Yacabonis relieved the struggling Lucchesi and promptly allowed five runs. Tommy Hunter then entered and allowed two innings of his own. Before you knew it, the score read 10-4 as the game entered to the bottom of the fifth inning.

Tommy Hunter’s day ended after he gave up another run. He ate up a decent amount of innings for New York, going 2 2/3 innings but struggled mightily allowing three runs and four hits.

New York tallied runs in the fifth and seventh innings ending their offensive output at six on the afternoon. Daniel Vogelbach‘s home run was the sixth and final run of the day.

Jeff Brigham pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Though, Dominic Leone allowed allowed two runs on three hits which brought the Rockies’ final offensive output total to 13 runs.

Mets’ pitchers allowed 14 hits and 13 runs to go with six walks. Another forgettable performance for the group who are struggling mightily.

Player of the Game: Jeff McNeil

McNeil was the best of the solid Mets’ offense on Sunday He went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run scored. He is now slashing .289/.345./.508 which is good for a .799 OPS.

On Deck

The Mets get a much-needed day off on Monday. They will pick back up on Tuesday at 6:40 pm ET in Cincinnati against the Reds for a three-game set. The projected pitching matchup for that game is Max Scherzer (5.56 ERA) versus Luke Weaver (7.88 ERA).