Mets vs. Rangers Recap: Ninth inning rally falls short

Last night’s game was the opposite of a pitcher’s duel. Jacob deGrom took the hill for the Mets looking to put his recent struggles behind him, he was not successful. After allowing eight runs in four innings, he was pulled from the game with the Mets down 8-4. His counterpart, Dillon Gee, only lasted 3.1 innings while giving up four earned runs. deGrom’s ERA has ballooned to 4.75 on the season and for a team that desperately needs its starters to step it up, this is less than ideal.

The Mets started out the scoring in the first inning as Lucas Duda stayed hot and doubled home Michael Conforto. The Rangers answered in the bottom half however to tie the game at a run.

Juan Lagares then hit a home run in the top of the second to take a one run lead. It didn’t hold for long though as the Rangers answered again with their second and third runs in their turn at bat.

In the third inning, the Mets’ switch-hitting middle infield combo, Asdrubal Cabrera and Neil Walker, added solo shots to take back the lead at 4-3. But, Joey Gallo’s two-run homer after the teams switched sides provided another lead change.

The Rangers tagged deGrom with two more runs in the fourth and then got their ninth and tenth runs off of Josh Smoker in the sixth. The Mets chipped away in the eighth as Jay Bruce grounded home a run to make it 10-5.

The Mets came up to bat down five runs in the top of the ninth but put together a nice little rally that fell a little short. Matt Bush, the Rangers closer, entered in a non-save situation and did not appear to bring his best stuff. Wilmer Flores led off with a single and Curtis Granderson followed with a two-run homer. In the next at bat, Travis d’Arnaud hit another home run to bring the Mets within two runs. The Mets put the tying runs on base with no outs via a Lagares home run and a Conforto walk. A Cabrera strikeout and a Jay Bruce double play however, halted the rally and the game.

Even though all nine Mets batters registered a hit, there were many missed opportunities by the offense. The Mets were 2-15 with runners in scoring position and left 13 runners on base to the Rangers’ 8.

The Mets fell to 24-32 on the season and will have a tough task tonight to split the two-game series as Zack Wheeler is set to take the mound against the Rangers’ ace, Yu Darvish.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Juan Lagares +14.6%, Michael Conforto +10.8%
Big losers: Jacob deGrom -58.9%, Jay Bruce -19.4%, Travis d’Arnaud -12.9%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Neil Walker’s solo home run in the thrid inning +11.1%
Teh sux0rest play: Jay Bruce grounds into game-ending double play -17%
Total pitcher WPA: -60.5%
Total batter WPA: +10.5%
GWRBI!: Nomar Mazara