The Mets were defeated by James Paxton and the Mariners 9-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Mets are now 5-12 on Sundays and have been outscored 120-60 in those 17 games.

Pitching

Seth Lugo was beaten up by the long ball as he suffered the loss Sunday afternoon. Lugo allowed a long three run bomb to Nelson Cruz in the first. Cruz mashed a pair of long foul balls before unloading on the mammoth shot to left center.

An inning later in his first at-bat since returning to the majors, Leonys Martin smacked a long solo shot to right center extending the lead to 4-0. Later that inning, Yoenis Cespedes lost a ball in the sun gifting Ben Gamel a triple. Two batters later, Robinson Cano drove in Gamel with a double extending the lead to 5-0.

In total, Lugo lasted only five innings and allowed five runs on eight hits while striking out five.

Fernando Salas came on in relief of Lugo in the sixth inning. He allowed an unearned run as Neil Walker booted another routine ground ball.

Josh Smoker allowed a run on a Danny Valencia sacrifice fly in his inning of work.

AJ Ramos struggled in his Mets debut. He issued a lead off four pitch walk followed by a single. Ramos then induced a should be double play ball, however Neil Walker threw it away netting an unearned run. Danny Espinosa then drove in another run with an RBI single before Ramos got out of the inning. Ramos also threw a pair of wild pitches in the inning.

Hitting

The Mets offense was shutdown by Mariners ace James Paxton all afternoon, as they managed only six hits off of him.

In the second, the Mets had two on and one out after a Wilmer Flores single and a Neil Walker hit by pitch. However, they both were stranded as Curtis Granderson lined out and Travis d’Arnaud struck out.

Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes both singled in the third, however Jay Bruce grounded out to end the threat.

In both the fourth and the sixth inning, the Mets were able to get the leadoff man on but they made nothing of it.

In the top of the ninth Curtis Granderson, Travis d’Arnaud, and Matt Reynolds lined three straight two out singles to score the Mets only run of the afternoon.

Wilmer Flores had two of the Mets six hits with a pair of singles on the day.

Neil Walker’s struggles continued as he went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and made a pair of crucial errors in the field.

Jose Reyes left the game in the fifth inning after being hit by a pitch on the forearm.

Up Next

The Mets travel to Denver to take on the Colorado Rockies Tuesday night. Steven Matz (2-4, 5.51 ERA) will look to bounce back from another poor outing, he will be opposed by Jeff Hoffman (6-3, 5.58 ERA). First pitch at Coors Field is scheduled for 8:40 p.m.