Mets vs. Pirates Recap: Mets continue to find themselves in the offensive doldrums

Manger Terry Collins was back at the helm after his recent health scare, but had very little to work worth during Tuesday’s 4-0 loss to the Pirates. Juan Lagares had a dental issue, Michael Conforto received a cortisone shot in his wrist Monday, and Neil Walker was still dealing with a sore back. That left Collins with a short bench and makeshift lineup that had Alejandro de Aza batting in the leadoff position.

It was against this lineup that Pirates’ starter Jameson Taillon had to face in his second big league start. With slugger Ty Kelly back in AAA, Taillon was able to induce alot of weak contact right from the get-go. The Mets did not get their first baserunner until, with one out in the bottom of the third, Kevin Plawecki was hit by a pitch. Jacob deGrom sucessfully sacrificed him over but leadoff hitter de Aza could not get him home.

They got their second baserunner in the fourth when Yoenis Cespedes walked with two outs. Kelly Johnson followed with a well struck ball right into the shift to end the inning.

Jacob deGrom was pitching well for the Mets until the sixth inning. With two out and nobody on Starling Marte singled and then deGrom made a mistake on a pitch to Jung Ho Kang that he did not miss. He hit a shot to right to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

That was deGrom’s last inning, who finished the day having given up just those two runs while striking out nine. deGrom must be having flashbacks to his 2014 rookie season when he did not get a win until his eighth start of the season despite pitching well during that stretch. The 2016 version has not gotten a win since April 30th and showed a bit of frustration in the dugout when he was pulled from the game.

The hitters were similarly frustrated by Taillon who was mowing them down with ease. They were unable to muster a single hit off of him until the seventh when Curtis Granderson led off the inning with a single. Yoenis Cespedes followed with a double play and any fleeting hopes of a rally died. Taillon shut out the Mets for eight innings and gave up just two hits.

It was enough of a struggle for the offense to come back when it was 2-0, but when Jim Henderson came out for his second inning of work in the eighth, he gave up a Marte two-run home run to make it 4-0 and essentially put the game out of reach.

Your beleaguered recapper Googled “pirate phrases” to maybe come up with some pirate puns and this came up: Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! - exhortation of discontent or disgust. This pretty much sums up the lineup, the game, the injuries, and the recent stretch of offensive futility. Aaaarrrrgggghhhh! indeed.

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