Sale'd Away

It’s Thursday. Things are at its nadir for the Mets’ season, but hey, The Mets Newsletter is free today, and you’re alive, so that’s something. Like the flag of Switzerland, it’s a plus even. And if you subscribe to TMN for all seven days of the week, everyday will be like Switzerland. Or something.

Paul Blackburn didn’t have it, Chris Sale did, and the Mets continued to play sloppy defense as the Mets lost once again, this time by a score of 5-0.

Things went awry after Blackburn threw one measly pitch. Ronald Acuna Jr. alchemized a fastball down the middle into a home run to center to put Atlanta up 1-0 immediately. The bottom of the first had more horrors to come. Alex Verdugo singled and Austin Riley took a walk. Matt Olson advanced the runners over one base on a ground out that Pete Alonso made a nice play on. Then the always solid defensive catcher Luis Torrens inexplicably committed a rare type of error - he used his mask to scoop up the baseball. It worked like a balk - the mistake scored Verdugo and moved Riley to third. Soon after, Marcell Ozuna hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Riley. The game, as most Met fans watching suspected at the time, was effectively over. 

Luis Torrens made another mistake in the fourth, costing another run. Ozzie Albies hit a one out double, moved to third on a ground out, then scored when Torrens muffed a Jose Buttó pitch trying to frame it. It was ruled a wild pitch, but in reality it should have been a passed ball. 4-0 Atlanta.

With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Matt Olson hit a solo bomb off of Ty Adcock to pile on. 

Meanwhile, the Mets technically didn’t have RISP problems because they only had one plate appearance in such a situation (Alonso grounded out to the pitcher). Chris Sale was just that good. In eight and two thirds innings of work he only allowed five singles - two off the bat of Starling Marte, the others from Jeff McNeil, Tyrone Taylor and Brandon Nimmo. It was a minor miracle that the string bean only struck out seven dudes. 

The Mets have now lost five in a row, and looked pretty bad doing it. It’s the first time they’ve lost five straight since last May, aka The Before Grimace Times. Their lead in the NL East is down to one game. Fortunately, it isn’t September. Plenty of time for redemption. 

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Ironically, Luis Torrens was in there last night in part because Francisco Alvarez made a key mental mistake the night before. 

Will Alvarez will be sent down to Triple-A to think about what he did? Carlos Mendoza as Good Cop: "[H]e knows how important he is for this team and we know how important he is and we're going to need him. We'll continue to help him and work with him. He's got a lot of potential." Eric Chavez as Bad Cop: “We don’t have three or four months for you to figure out your swing. (Alvarez) understands the importance of that and the urgency of that. He understands what we have in Torrens. He’s not oblivious to any of this.

Ronny Mauricio is an automatic out right now, but Brett Baty is still nursing a groin injury, and the rehabbing Mark Vientos is still a week or so away. 

When asked if Baty might be facing an IL stint, Mendoza said “we’ll see.” So that’s fun.

SNY showed this damning graphic in the sixth as Steve Gelbs talked about Eric Chavez’s recent-ish hitters meeting in which he addressed the fact that the pitching has been carrying them and they need to start hitting with runners in scoring position. Gary Cohen was having none of it. “Ever since that meeting, not much has changed,” he noted. 

I remember writing all the way back in April that hopefully the offense will pick up when the pitching inevitably regresses. That unfortunately did not happen. 

Francisco Lindor will be at Mets House next Wednesday at noon to meet some fans and promote his latest New Balance swag. In a moment of needed levity, when he was asked after the game how his broken toe was feeling, Mr. Smile bounced up and down and said “I’m good.”

Justin Garza pitched the eighth for New York. He got all three batters he faced to ground out to second.

Frankie Montas (lat strain) had another not so good rehab start. He threw 80 pitches in five innings, allowing five earned runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out two. The rehab clock expires in four days, so the Mets have to activate him even though his ERA in Triple-A is 13.19. (Theoretically, Montas could claim he’s hurt and they can put him in another rehab go-around, but Montas said the other day that physically he’s fine.) There seems to be two options: 1)say screw it, just have him start in Tylor Megill’s place beginning next Wednesday or 2)stash him in the bullpen and have the team’s top pitching prospect right now, Nolan McLean, take Megill’s spot, beginning tomorrow night. They’ll probably go with the first option. Why? Because I want them to do the second option. 

Anyway, the Triple-A Syracuse Mets (29-42) lost 5-3 to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (Marlins affiliate). Tyler Zuber and Dom Hamel combined to shut out the Shrimp for the final four innings after Montas departed. Jakson Reetz hit his eighth homer of the season. Luke Ritter went 2 for 4 with a double.

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (43-20) defeated the Harrisburg Senators (Nationals) 7-3. Jack Wenninger improved to 7-3 on the season. He permitted just one earned run in five innings of work. He walked three but struck out eight. Third baseman Nick Lorusso went 3 for 5 with two runs scored, two RBI, two strikeouts, and a stolen base.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (45-20) handled the Aberdeen IronBirds (Orioles) 6-1. Chris Suero went 2 for 4 with a triple and a double, one run scored and one RBI. Nate Dohm dohm-inated, one might say. He threw four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out eight and walking two. 

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (34-30) fell to the Palm Beach Cardinals 5-4. Yonathan Henriquez went 2 for 3 with a home run, two runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. 

Tonight the Mets try to not get swept at Truist Park. Clay Holmes (7-3, 2.87 ERA) will get the start for New York (NL). Spencer Strider and his quads (1-5, 4.35 ERA) will toe the rubber for Atlanta. First pitch is scheduled for 7:15 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY and outside of the New York area on MLB Network.