In a sentence
A pitcher’s duel ended in a 10-7 Giants win, just like we all wrote it up.
The good
Seven runs! With Neil Walker out for the third straight game with lower back stiffness, Justin Ruggiano’s unlikely grand slam and Ty Kelly’s unlikely two-run triple provided most of the offense against San Francisco — Rene Rivera had an RBI groundout somewhere in there too. It wasn’t enough, but for the lackluster offense we’ve become accustomed to at this point, seven runs is a miracle.
The bad
Hansel Robles’ strange August continues. The default seventh inning man out of Terry Collins’ totally-effectively-we-promise-run bullpen, the hard-throwing righty gave up two walks in his first three batters — he was pulled after the second free pass — in the bottom of the eighth, both of which came around to score when Addison Reed allowed a double to Buster Posey. Robles was the most pleasant surprise in the bullpen for most of the season, but the heat seems to be getting to him: in eight appearances this month, he’s been on the hook for three runs twice, two runs twice and one run once. Not exactly what the Mets are looking for from one of their supposedly more stable ‘pen pieces.
The ugly
Jacob deGrom gave up a career-high eight runs on 13 hits, seemingly all of which came from Madison Bumgarner. Staked to a 4-0 lead after Ruggiano’s grand slam, deGrom not only couldn’t put up a shutdown inning in the bottom of the fourth, but gave up five runs, including a two-run home run to the Mountain Man. A lot fell wrong for the Mets in that inning, mostly a Hunter Pence single and an Eduardo Nunez triple that were quite literally inches away from foul territory, but that’s just about how the season is going at this point.
Oh, and also? Steven Matz is missing his start tonight with “general discomfort” in his left shoulder. So, uh, come on down, Seth Lugo.
Photo credit: John Hefti – USA Today Sports