Final Score: Nationals 8, Mets 6—Bullpen implosion

Jacob deGrom was brilliant, but the Mets’ bullpen totally imploded, blowing a five-run lead en route to an 8-6 loss. deGrom went 7.1 innings and departed with two men on base. Seth Lugo, Jerry Blevins, AJ Ramos, Jeurys Familia, and Hansel Robles then combined to face 13 batters and record only five outs. The loss is officially charged to AJ Ramos, who had a truly dismal performance.

Todd Frazier provided the early offense for the Mets, driving in runs in the first and the third off of Jeremy Hellickson. Late in the game, the Mets’ aggressive baserunning led to a couple more runs, as Juan Lagares stole two bases and scored on a safety squeeze from deGrom. Amed Rosario drove in another run with a ground out, and Asdrubal Cabrera capped things off with a two-run home run. Unfortunately, the bats went quiet after the bullpen’s implosion.

The loss drops the Mets to 12-3 and spoils their perfect record against both the Nationals and the NL East (they’d been 8-0 against the Phillies, Marlins, and Nationals). It’s a frustrating loss that exposes what is a hole that was very poorly addressed this offseason by the team at the back of the bullpen, something that’s even more glaring with Anthony Swarzak still sidelined. Gio Gonzalez squares off against Zack Wheeler tomorrow.

Full recap to follow.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by amazins8669; his effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.

1. amazins8669: 257
2. MetsFan4Decades: 252
3. MookieTheCat: 143
4. olderfan62: 133
5. stickguy: 127
6. funkin: 101
7. LaRomaBella: 91
8. Allison McCague: 90
9. BigBlueFanInVietnam: 79
10. The Nameless One: 78