Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
Despite dealing with hamstring tightness, which forced him out of his previous start after five innings on Friday night, New York Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman came back to make his next scheduled start in St. Louis, pitching in Game 1 of Wednesday’s doubleheader.
As a result, Stroman went five innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on seven hits and two home runs, while striking out six and issuing a walk in a 4-1 loss to the Cardinals.
“It’s definitely pretty frustrating,” said Stroman, who suffered the loss. “At the end of the day, I don’t think I was good enough out there. Over the course of five I don’t feel like I fully had it.”
Stroman surrendered a booming solo home run to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt in the first inning. In the bottom of the third, Stroman gave up three-straight two out hits, which scored the Cardinals’ second run.
After a bizarre turn of events with three replay reviews in the top of the fourth, Stroman came back out to the mound following a long layoff and found himself in immediate trouble with first and third and nobody out.
Luckily, the right-hander was able to get out of it via three-straight strikeouts in a row to get out of the inning unscathed. And interestingly enough, Stroman appeared to tell pitching coach Jeremy Hefner to let him pitch during their mound visit prior to him escaping the jam.
A fired up Stroman was allowed to continue his outing in the fifth. But unfortunately, it would all unravel from there.
Stroman, who started off the inning with back-to-back strikeouts, saw his defense fail him, as Francisco Lindor‘s throwing error prolonged the inning. And as a result, the miscue came back to bite them, as Stroman served up a two-run shot to Paul DeJong to put the Cardinals up 4-1.
“It’s frustrating but at the end of the day that’s on me,” said Stroman. “I have to make a better pitch out there. I trust my defense. Lindor has already made some great plays out there for me.”
Stroman now has five unearned runs in his first seven starts, the most of any Mets pitcher this season.
On the bright side, Stroman’s hamstring held up without any re-aggravation in his start, which he took as a positive moving forward.
“I’m super thankful coming out of the game without re-aggravating it,” said Stroman.
Relief pitcher Jacob Barnes entered in the sixth in relief of Stroman and pitched a scoreless frame, striking out two batters.
But the Mets’ offense could not make up the difference, as they dropped the first game of the doubleheader by a score of 4-1.
