Another disappointing night

A quality start from Max Scherzer? Check. Extra-base hits from some of the slumping players? Yup. Baserunners able to get on against an excellent bullpen? You betcha. A Mets win over the Brewers? Not so fast...

The Mets dropped the series finale 3-2 to a Brewers team that Met fans will be happy not to see again until 2024.

The Mets only got to Milwaukee starter Adrian Houser twice, both in the third inning. The runs came on back to back home runs by Brett Baty and Brandon Nimmo, the first ever starting nine and one back to backs in Mets history. The two solo shots put the Mets up 2-0, a lead they held until the sixth inning.

Max Scherzer continued his stretch of better baseball, throwing six innings of two-run ball, striking out nine and walking two. Scherzer’s only blemish on the evening was a first pitch fastball to Victor Caratini, a player with very good numbers against Scherzer, who deposited the pitch over the wall to tie the game in the sixth.

Things almost were uglier for the Mets at a few points, as the fundies just weren’t there at times. In the second, Pete Alonso was thrown out trying to stretch a bloop single into a double. A Jeff McNeil double a few batters later may have driven him in, though it’s tough to say for sure. In the fourth, Scherzer and Francisco Álvarez had a soft collision in foul territory while trying to catch a foul ball. In the eighth, Álvarez dropped a second, much easier, pop up in foul territory. [insert Keith Hernandez disappointment noises]

None of his was helped by home plate umpire Ron Kulpa, who had an incredibly inconsistent strike zone, frustrating players on both sides. Scherzer seemingly had 10-15 pitches added to his total for the night because of missed strike calls, which led to him only going six innings.

Things fell apart for the Mets in the seventh, when newest Met T.J. McFarland recorded just one out, putting two on base before being relieved by Dominic Leone. A sacrifice fly off the bat of Brian Anderson put the Brewers up 3-2.

The bottom of the seventh presented the Mets with an opportunity to score, with a Mark Canha pinch hit, a Brandon Nimmo hit by pitch, and a botched double play off the glove of Anderson led to the bases being loaded with just one out. However, Starling Marte bounced into his second double play of the game, ending the rally before a run could score.

The Mets got another chance in the ninth. Canha and Álvarez singled with one out and, after a two-out walk to Nimmo, the bases were loaded, again, for Marte. However, despite the rally caps from the bench, Marte struck out to end the game.

The Mets welcome the Giants for their final homestand of the first half this weekend, with Carlos Carrasco and Alex Cobb squaring off on Friday night.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Mark Canha, +30.1% WPA

Big Mets loser: Starling Marte, -63.4% WPA

Mets pitchers: -7.1% WPA

Mets hitters: -42.9% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Danny Mendick’s fielder’s choice, 14.8% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Victor Caratini’s home run, -26.4% WPA