In a game that started out with a lot of promise with Francisco Lindor hitting his first career home run as a member of the Mets, the Mets lost ugly, 16-4.
David Peterson got the start for the Mets and cruised through the first three innings, facing the minimum and not allowing a hit. Early on, Peterson also got help from the Mets’ offense, in the first inning with the previously mentioned Lindor homer, and in the third, where J.D. Davis had an RBI double scoring Jeff McNeil. In that third inning, the Mets squandered a chance to score more, as Michael Conforto left Davis and Pete Alonso on base with two outs, grounding out to the shortstop.
It was in the bottom of the fourth inning where things started to go south for the Mets and David Peterson. After giving up back-to-back one out singles, Anthony Rizzo singled to left, scoring Willson Contreras and cutting the Mets lead to 2-1. Peterson then appeared to escape trouble, getting a routine ground ball to the third baseman J.D. Davis, but instead what happened next was pure disaster. Davis, not known for his defensive prowess, bobbled the ball, and everyone was safe. With the bases loaded, David Peterson then walked in the tying run, making it the second straight night the Mets starter walked in a run with the bases loaded.
The inning would only get worse from there, as David Bote blooped a two-run single in between Michael Conforto and Jeff McNeil to make it 4-2 Cubs and end Peterson’s night after just 3.1 innings. Robert Gsellman came on in relief of the starter early in the game for the second straight day, and got Jake Marisnick to ground out to third base, causing another runner to score and making it 5-2. From there, the inning got worse, as Eric Sogard added in on the fun with an RBI single. And to end the inning, Francisco Lindor made an error in the field and on the throw, allowing the Cubs to score their seventh run of the inning.
With the score 7-2 in the top of the fifth, Francisco Lindor led off the inning with a single, giving way to a monstrous two-run shot off the bat of Pete Alonso to bring the score to 7-4. The homer from Alonso left the ballpark, and was one of the lone bright spots on the night.
The game for the Mets got worse in the fifth and sixth innings, as they gave up another seven runs between the two. Still pitching, Robert Gsellman gave up three more runs, before Trevor Hildenberger gave up a grand slam to Javier Báez to put the icing on the cake for the Cubs.
The rest of the game was relatively uneventful, though Luis Guillorme did pitch for the Mets in the bottom of the eighth. His outing did not go quite as smoothly as his pitching appearance last season, as he gave up three hits and two runs to further inflate the score.
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Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: J.D. Davis, +13.6% WPA
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -39.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: -58.5% WPA
Mets hitters: +8.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: J.D. Davis’ RBI double in the top of the third, +11.7%
Teh sux0rest play: David Bote’s two-run single in the bottom of the fourth, -17.7%