Mets vs. Brewers Recap: deGrom gets beat up, offense is quiet

A rough outing from Jacob deGrom snapped the Mets’ three-game winning streak, as they fell to the Brewers 7-1. deGrom’s command was off from the get-go, and he walked five batters over his four innings of work. The Met offense was nowhere near potent enough to make up for it, with Michael Conforto driving in the only Met run of the evening with a two out double in the ninth.

After a couple of excellent starts, deGrom was clearly struggling tonight. He started his evening by walking Eric Sogard (who somehow has an OPS over 1.000 for the season), then gave up a two run home run to Eric Thames. That gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead before deGrom had even recorded an out.

Things didn’t get any easier in the second inning for the Mets’ ace. deGrom gave up a solo home run to Keon Broxton, stretching the Brewers’ lead to 3-0. Then, with two outs, Sogard drew another walk, as did Eric Thames. Jesus Aguilar struck out looking to end the threat, but deGrom threw 32 pitches in the inning and was already at 56 pitches. Certainly not what the Mets were hoping for after using every available bullpen arm in an extra inning win on Tuesday.

deGrom managed to dance around trouble in the third, but again struggled in the fourth. Eric Sogard walked for a third time, and Thames doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. Aguilar then launched a fly ball to right center field that Curtis Granderson seemed to have on a diving effort, but the ball bounced out of his glove. That scored one run, and Hernan Perez drove in two more with a bases loaded single after Travis Shaw was intentionally walked. A wild pitch and a ground out stretched the Milwaukee lead to 7-0 by the end of the inning.

Mercifully, that would be all for deGrom, who finished with 105 pitches through four innings. He struck out six, walked five, and allowed seven runs, all earned. The Mets failure to bring up a fresh arm after their 12 inning victory definitely caused deGrom to be left in longer than he should have been, not only digging the Mets a deeper hole but risking injury for their best remaining starter.

Josh Edgin came in to replace deGrom in the fifth and performed excellently, tossing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts. His effort was wasted, however, as the Mets bats remained impotent all night. After threatening a bit in the first and second innings against Brewers’ starter Junior Guerra, they were largely silenced by the right hander’s split finger, as he held the Mets scoreless over six innings.

Things got a bit more interesting in the seventh against reliever Jared Hughes. Rene River lead off with a double, and after a strikeout by Matt Reynolds, a hit batter and a walk loaded the bases for Jay Bruce. Instead of making things a bit closer, Bruce grounded into a double play. The play at first was close, but Terry Collins was too slow to challenge and the inning ended with the Mets still trailing 7-0.

Neil Ramirez pitched the eighth and ninth innings, pitching like his typical wild self. He walked three and struck out three, keeping the Brewer lead at 7-0. In the bottom of the ninth, Juan Lagares reached on an infield single with two outs before Michael Conforto lined a double down the left field line to drive in Lagares and prevent the shutout. Asdrubal Cabrera bounced at weakly two pitches later to end the game.

The loss drops the Mets to 23-28, snapping their four game win streak and keeping them well out of reach of both the division and the wild card. Zack Wheeler takes the mound against Chase Anderson on Thursday afternoon as the Mets look to secure a series victory over the Brewers.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: None
Big losers: Jacob deGrom, -33.7%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jay Bruce walks in the first inning, +3.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Eric Thames hits a two run home run in the first inning, -16.4% WPA

Total pitcher WPA: -33% WPA
Total batter WPA: -17% WPA
GWRBI!: None