The Mets will be very happy to get out of St. Petersburg after suffering three straight disappointing defeats at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays following today’s 7-1 loss.
The Mets lost two lineup regulars before the first inning came to an end, as both Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto suffered hamstring injuries and were removed from the game. They were replaced by Patrick Mazeika and Jake Hager, respectively, but the punch-less lineup, already missing Brandon Nimmo and J.D. Davis and featuring mostly bench bats, was unable to do much against Josh Fleming and four Tampa Bay relievers.
Marcus Stroman, meanwhile, cruised over the first three innings but hit a road block in the fourth. He surrendered a two-run home run to Met Killer Manuel Margot in the fourth, then allowed another two-run shot to Willy Adames in the fifth. Brandon Lowe added a solo shot in the sixth for good measure.
Offensively, the Mets’ bats managed just two hits, both coming from the DH position. The first was Jeff McNeil’s infield single, which seemed to directly lead to his eventual hamstring injury. The second came in the sixth inning, courtesy of a home run off the bat of Patrick Mazeika. It was Mazeika’s first career hit and his first career home run, both of which came after his two heroic walk-offs earlier in the month.
The Mets went with Edwin Díaz, who hadn’t pitched in a week, for the eighth, despite the score, and it did not go well. The Rays hit him hard and added two runs to put the game well out of reach. The Mets went down quietly in the ninth to finish off the loss.
GameThread Roll Call
Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.
- MetsFan4Decades: 65
- JR and the Off-Balance Shots: 43
- LouMonte7: 30
- AnneInFlushing: 27
- kefmet: 27
- BlockNTackle: 18
- stickguy: 15
- Mettle: 14
- NothingButMet: 13
- MikeyInMadison: 9