Mets vs. Dodgers Recap: Beaten by the best

The 2017 Mets season has reached a new low point. With their 8-0 loss to the Dodgers Sunday night, the Mets have dropped to 11 games under the .500 mark for the first time this year. This was the Mets’ fourth consecutive loss, their ninth consecutive loss to the Dodgers dating back to 2016, and their sixth consecutive loss on a Sunday. And this one might’ve been the ugliest one of them all.

The game started off poorly for Steven Matz, who gave up three runs in the first inning. A Logan Forsythe two-run single and an RBI double from Austin Barnes had the Mets in the hole before they even came to the plate. And it didn’t get any better after that.

The team, as a whole, mustered just one hit and one walk the entire game. The lone hit came from Travis d’Arnaud, who punched a single the other way to right field in the third inning. After that, the Mets couldn’t get another runner to first base until Brandon Nimmo walked in the ninth inning as a pinch hitter. The team was completely stifled by Hyun-Jin Ryu, who entered the night with a 4.59 FIP. Overall, they struck out 13 times on the night.

Matz settled down after that first inning, but gave up two more runs in the fifth inning on Justin Turner’s second homer in as many days. It was Turner’s 13th homer of the season, as he continues to crush Mets pitching—and all pitching—in his post-Mets career.

Matz was pulled in the sixth inning after tossing 5.1 innings and yielding those five earned runs on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Matz’s ERA is now up to an unrecognizable 5.77 on the year, and this was his fifth-straight poor outing. It’s tough to know exactly what is wrong with Matz, but he’s not the same pitcher he was as recently as last season.

The Dodgers added two runs in the eighth off Josh Smoker in the eighth, when Cody Bellinger punished a two-run shot into the big apple seats in center field for his MLB-leading 32nd homer of the season.

Mercifully, it was the last homer the Dodgers will hit off Mets pitching this season. The Dodgers crushed 25 homers against the Mets this season in just seven games played. They outscored New York 58-15 across those seven games. The Dodgers are clearly the best team in baseball and may be on a historic win pace this season, and the Mets haven’t looked like they even belong in the same league as them whenever they’ve played.

The Dodgers’ last run came in the ninth off AJ Ramos on an RBI triple by Chris Taylor to put the icing on the cake. This loss drops the Mets to 49-60 on the disappointing season.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big winners: Travis d’Arnaud, +2.0% WPA, Hansel Robles, +0.5% WPA
Big losers: Steven Matz, -29.9% WPA,
Teh aw3s0mest play: Travis d’Arnaud singled to right field in the third inning +2.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Logan Forsythe hits a two-run single in the first inning -17.0% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -30.1% WPA
Total batter WPA: -19.9% WPA
GWRBI!: Logan Forsythe