On a night the Mets needed a bounce back effort from their starting pitcher after Jon Niese was bludgeoned on Tuesday night, it was deja vu for Bartolo Colon and the Mets on Wednesday.
In fact, Colon’s performance nearly mirrored that of Niese’s performance the night before, and in fact might have been worse.
Colon allowed 11 hits, two walks and eight earned runs in 4 1/3 innings on Wednesday night, falling to 6-3 and seeing his ERA balloon to 4.85 for the year.
He now has a 9.98 ERA over his last three starts, having allowed 28 baserunners in only 15 1/3 innings over that span.
“I got my behind whipped,” Colon said after the game.
Colon last allowed nine runs in a game on April 13, 2014 against the Angels. It’s the first time he’s thrown five innings or less in consecutive starts for the first time since August 29-September 3, 2013 with the A’s.
Colon reached base on an error in the bottom of the third inning, and ran station-to-station to third base. He was unable to tag up on a sinking line drive off the bat of Lucas Duda which was caught by center fielder Randal Grichuk.
Terry Collins offered that as a possible explanation for Colon’s struggles.
“I don’t know if running the bases [tired him],” Collins said. “I know a lot of people get entertained by that, but I don’t think it’s that funny myself. That’s the first time he’s had to do that all year long. Maybe that’s why the next inning he didn’t have much. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him struggle so much with the command.”
Well, Colon really didn’t have it before the third inning, so that probably wasn’t it. And, Colon didn’t use that as an excuse, either.
“It didn’t bother me at all,” Colon explained of his baserunning adventure.
The problem was pretty simple for Colon. As had been the case in his previous two starts, his two-seam fastball was getting too much of the plate last night. When he was enjoying so much success earlier in the season, that pitched started as a ball and tailed back over the outer edge against right-handed hitters. Now, it’s starting on the outer edge and centering itself. For lefties, that location is right in their power zone, and they just crushed him in particular last night.
“I’m going to continue to pitch the way I pitch,” Colon concluded. “This probably won’t be the last bad outing I have.”
It’s a matter of adjustments for Colon. He’s been around the block enough times to know what he needs to do to get on track.
Honestly, as badly as he’s pitched, those concerns are dwarfed by the lack of offense on a daily basis.
Just Mets 