The New York Mets Achilles heel is bad baseball teams because they play down to their level. Consistent losses to the Pittsburgh Pirates were the beginning and now losing two straight to the Miami Marlins continues the trend. Taijuan Walker could not get out of his pitching slump and fell victim to the home run again in the 5-4 loss.
Walker was getting beat by good hitters throughout his slump but tonight was the opposite. Alex Jackson was 3-for-47 with one extra-base hit in his big league career but took Walker deep to center field to open up the Marlins scoring. Isan Diaz is a .175 career hitter but also homered off him for the second run. To cap off the scoring off Walker, Bryan De La Cruz, who was 1-for-14 to start his career, had three hits, including a two-run single. Seth Lugo allowed the Marlins to get an insurance run in the bottom of the eight, and it turned out to be the one that saved the Marlins’ win.
Walker still made it through 5.2 innings with the four earned runs but also allowed eight hits. The two home runs allowed pushed Walker’s total to seven in his last three starts after allowing six in his first 17 starts. Regression from his All-Star form or not, there is no reason for the Marlins lineup to hit him around this easily.
Playing From Behind
Offensively, each run the Marlins scored felt like five due to the disappointing bats. They mustered just four hits to get their three runs and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position. James McCann‘s double brought the Mets within one and put him as the tying run at second, but Brandon Drury could not keep his pinch-hitting magic alive. Drury lined on about 10 feet foul before grounding out to shortstop to end the game. J.D. Davis was once again the Mets’ best hitter as he provided a two-run double to keep his average over .300.
Luis Rojas tried to inject some life into his team after getting ejected to end the seventh inning, but it was a failed attempt. The lack of focus on offense showed when McCann swung at a 3-0 pitch in the eighth as the tying run. The frustration went beyond the manager as Javy Baez showed his after flying out to end the eighth. Baez was chirping at home plate umpire Stu Scheurwater after Baez felt he was talking junk to him. The loss shrinks the Mets NL East lead to just 1.5 games after the Philadelphia Phillies won.
When Carlos Carrasco faces Zach Thompson, the Mets hope to right the ship and end the losing streak on Wednesday. Like the first two games, the first pitch is scheduled for another 7:10 p.m. ET start from loanDepot Park.
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