Tonight’s game was the 2016 Mets’ third against a debuting BP Top 101 prospect, with Giolito (#3 overall) joining Julio Urias (#6) and Jameson Taillon (#51). If past is prologue, we should expect to see Alex Reyes (#10) and Jeff Hoffman (#24) make their first MLB starts when the Cardinals and Rockies, respectively, visit Citi Field at the end of July.
After a 55-minute rain delay to start the game, Curtis Granderson led off with an excuse-me opposite-field bloop single. Giolito retired eight in a row before walking Granderson with two out in the third. He also walked Yoenis Cespedes to lead off the fourth, but that was all the damage the Mets mustered against Giolito; an 85-minute rain delay knocked him out long before the Mets would have.
Matt Harvey was throwing as hard as he’s done all season, but his performance was no better for it. In the first inning, Jayson Werth extended his at-bat to nine pitches in earning a walk. In the second, Harvey threw eight pitches to Danny Espinosa before walking him, too. In between, Harvey badly missed his spots to Ryan Zimmerman and Anthony Rendon. Zimmerman’s bat is so slow these days that he swung through a middle-middle fastball that Harvey meant to keep on the outside corner. When Harvey did the same to Rendon, the Nationals’ third baseman drove the ball to the right-center field gap, allowing Wilson Ramos to score all the way from first.
Harvey created another mess in the fourth inning. Daniel Murphy singled the first pitch to left. Wilson Ramos drove the next pitch to the scoreboard in right. Travis d’Arnaud made a perfect throw to catch Murphy stealing second. But Harvey kept missing his location, walking Zimmerman and giving up a single to Rendon. Crew chief Larry Vanover may have saved the Mets by calling for the tarp after one pitch to Espinosa. Unfortunately the delay was too much for Granderson, who has been dealing with a calf injury and could not get warmed back up.
Erik Goeddel came in after the long delay but threw too many high and outside fastballs, walking Espinosa. Terry Collins managed the fourth inning like a playoff game, going straight to Jerry Blevins in the fourth, despite not having an inning eater available for later. He came in to face pinch hitter Clint Robinson ignoring the left-handed hitter’s strong reverse platoon split in 50 career PA. Blevins got out of the inning on one pitch. Then he got to swing the bat for the first time since 2013. However, Blevins got tired after getting two outs in the fifth. He just missed a 3-2 fastball to Werth and then threw Bryce Harper a cutter that didn’t cut, allowing a home run to a left handed hitter for the first time since 2013.
The Mets got their only good scoring opportunity in the sixth. Asdrubal Cabrera doubled down the line, then broke for third when Cespedes hit a ball deep in the hole at shortstop. Espinosa made a diving stop on the wet grass but didn’t look to third and couldn’t make a throw. Neil Walker took four balls to load the bases. No matter how much Oliver Perez has reinvented himself as a reliever, it still feels weird for Mets fans to see him jogging out in a high leverage situation. James Loney swung at a first pitch slider like he’d never faced a sidearm lefty. He refused to swing until it was 2-2, then went fishing on another hard slider well out of the strike zone. Wilmer Flores flew out to leave the bases loaded.
Hansel Robles reprised his innings eater role from the game where Bartolo Colon hurt his thumb on a comebacker. Robles pitched a 1-2-3 sixth and got two outs in the seventh before leaving a tailing fastball up to Harper. Alejandro De Aza just missed a diving catch and Harper was on second. The Mets walked Murphy intentionally to face Ramos, who pounded a hanging slider off the 402 sign in center for two runs. Unfortunately, Tuesday was Robles’ turn to get taken out by a comebacker off the left calf, just above the knee. Robles squatted then fell down on his back in pain while Walker got the carom for the third out. He was down for over a minute before walking off under his own power. Collins said after the game that Robles should be OK.
The 2016 Mets season. pic.twitter.com/LfYRgoQqk6
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Collins himself could probably use a day off – along with the rest of the team – as the batters put up little fight over the last two innings and the Mets fell to the Nationals 5-0.
In other injury news, the Mets said Lucas Duda remains two weeks away from resuming baseball activities. Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz have both been diagnosed with bone spurs in their elbows. Granderson and Robles will probably sit out Wednesday’s game.
Photo credit: Tommy Gilligan – USA Today Sports