The Mets dropped the opener of their four-game series with the Cubs by the score of 4-3 at Wrigley Field tonight. Here are my takeaways from Monday’s loss…
Jacob deGrom had a rough night.
He just didn’t have his good fastball command today. It was evident right from the beginning when he threw two fastballs up and over the middle of the plate in the first inning, and both Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo turned both of them around for three runs on back-to-back home runs. Early on, he was fastball happy and not mixing his off-speed pitches enough, but then he started throwing too many change-ups and sliders later in the outing, and abandoned his fastball.
It was a strange mental battle for deGrom, who has clearly been frustrated a couple of times this season. He’s in an adjustment period, he knows that, but has to re-establish his fastball command before he’s able to successful make that transition in his sophomore year. That didn’t happen tonight, and the results weren’t there as a result.
Bats showed a spark, but had some bad luck tonight.
The Mets fell behind early and had to battle all night from behind. They hit a lot of balls hard tonight and were able to battle back to within a run thanks in part to back-to-back homers from Wilmer Flores and Lucas Duda, but hit into some bad luck late and couldn’t get around their bad hands. The ninth inning summed up the Mets luck with an outstanding play by Starlin Castro to rob Dilson Herrera of a sure bet of a single and a first-and-third situation.
It happens, but it’s frustrating because they had Jon Lester on the ropes in the middle of the game, and had another chance in the eighth inning to tie the game, but couldn’t get the big hit thanks in part to that bad luck, but also some poor at-bats early tonight.
An interesting game, nevertheless.
Despite the loss, it was an entertaining game. The Mets showed fight in their attempted comeback tonight, there were some home runs hit by both clubs, there were a lot of baserunners right from the beginning, and there was a lot of strategy and gamesmanship throughout the evening.
Sure, it doesn’t mean anything if the Mets lose, especially in a game that was winnable with some better execution the plate and some better luck off the bat. But it was good, National League baseball, a game that kept even the average fan thinking. Good stuff, the loss not withstanding.
Other notes from Monday:
John Mayberry went 0-for-4 at the plate – he is now 3-for-32 this season and 3-for-23 against left-handed pitching this year.
Duda homered and singled against two different left-handed pitchers tonight – he’s 13-for-33 against left-handed pitching this season.
Mets pitching allowed six walks tonight, although deGrom allowed four of them in five innings.
The bullpen pitched three scoreless innings.
Just Mets 