Mets vs. Pirates recap: Jagged little Pill

Over the past few weeks, the Mets have found ways to lose games more often than not, and on Saturday night in Pittsburgh, it was once again the bullpen that did them in.

It wouldn’t be fair to pin the entire game on the team’s relief pitchers, as there were plenty of opportunities for the Mets to score more than four runs and at least a couple of plays that should have been made in the infield that were not. But the Mets never trailed in the game until they lost until a walk-off single from John Jaso with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth.

Officially, the loss went to Tyler Pill, who allowed a hit, a walk, and hit Andrew McCutchen with a pitch. But it had been Addison Reed who gave up three hits and a run in the bottom of the ninth—also on a John Jaso single—to send the game to extras in the first place.

Wasted were several outstanding defensive plays by Juan Lagares in center field, all made over a short span after he was double-switched into the game late as a defensive replacement for Curtis Granderson in center.

As for the bright sides of the game, Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud crushed the ball with a home run apiece. Duda hit a double, too, while d’Arnaud hit a single and a triple. In one of at least two head-scratching moves, Duda was double-switched out of the game even though there was a pretty decent chance it’d go to extras. The other: Neil Ramirez started the seventh inning for the Mets in a high-leverage situation.

Weather permitting, the Mets still have an opportunity to take the series from the Pirates tonight at PNC Park. But they’re going to need a winning streak of fairly significant length at some point if they are to entertain the idea of contending this year.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Jerry Blevins, +27.9% WPA, Lucas Duda, +12.1% WPA
Big losers: Josh Edgin, -34.5% WPA, Addison Reed, -31.1% WPA, Asdrubal Cabrera, -15.7% WPA, Neil Walker, -11.7% WPA, Neil Ramirez, -11.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Josh Harrison grounds out with runners on the corners and one out in the ninth, +18.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: John Jaso’s walk-off single in the tenth, -34.5% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -43.7% WPA
Total batter WPA: -6.3% WPA
GWRBI!: John Jaso