Mets vs Rockies recap: Desmond knocks two out, Mets get swept again

The Mets continued their recent skid, dropping their sixth straight game this week when the Rockies beat them 3-2 this afternoon at Citi Field. The team wasn’t shut out, so at least we have that? Aside from that, there wasn’t too much good news today.

Noah Syndergaard started the game for the Mets, and did not have his best command this afternoon.Over the course of the game, Syndergaard walked four batters, while striking out only five and giving up six hits.

The Mets started the game off with three straight singles off of Rockies starter Kyle Freeland. The hits came from Juan Lagares, Yoenis Cespedes, and Asdrubal Cabrera, with Lagares scoring on the Cabrera single. Todd Frazier then hit a sacrifice fly, plating Cespedes.

That would be it for Cespedes, however, as he left the game with a tight right hip. Brandon Nimmo replaced him in left field in the second inning. That inning, Syndergaard gave up the first of two home runs of the day to Ian Desmond, a player having a reasonably miserable season.

In the third innings, Syndergaard gave up singles to Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl, who promptly stole second, putting men on second and third with no outs. A walk to Nolan Arenado loaded the bases, and a four pitch walk to Gerardo Parra walked in Blackmon. Syndergaard was able to limit the damage by striking out Trevor Story and getting Desmond to ground into a double play.

The Mets offense fell off a cliff after the first inning, recording only two hits for the rest of the game: a second inning single by Jose Lobaton and a ninth inning single by Adrian Gonzalez. While they were able to draw three walks to go along with their five hits, the team simply couldn’t put anything together.

Syndergaard left after six innings, and was replaced by Jerry Blevins and AJ Ramos, who combined for a perfect seventh inning. As today was Jerry Blevins’ sock giveaway, we can all appreciate his effectiveness on this Sunday afternoon.

Freeland lasted an extra inning, and put together a nice start today, giving up four hits, one walk, and striking out eight. After his rough first inning, he limited the Mets to just two baserunners. Bryan Shaw and Jake McGee combined for a scoreless eighth inning, with just one walk against them.

In the top of the eighth inning, the recently recalled Hansel Robles gave up Desmond’s second home run of the day, which would be enough to put the Rockies on top for good and complete the sweep. Adam Ottavino made things a little interesting in the ninth inning, walking Wilmer Flores and giving up the single to Gonzalez, but ultimately came through unscathed.

The Mets head to Cincinnati, where P.J. Conlon will make his major league debut for the Mets, facing Homer Bailey.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Noah Syndergaard, +12.9% WPA, Wilmer Flores, +10.2% WPA
Big losers: Jay Bruce, -17.8% WPA, Hansel Robles, -17.5% WPA, Tomas Nido, -16.5% WPA, Todd Frazier, -13.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Asdrubal Cabrera’s RBI single in the first inning, +12.1% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Ian Desmond’s game winning home run, -29.9% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +3.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: -53.9% WPA
GWRBI!: Ian Desmond