Braves 12, Mets 4 Final
Just when the good feelings seem to be carrying Mets fans aloft, gravity pulls everyone back to Earth.
The improbably ascendant Mets confronted the ongoing enigma that is their fallen ace as Matt Harvey dug an early hole the team could not climb out of, and they lost the opening game of their weekend series against a middling Atlanta team.
Harvey continued to struggle, missing spots with a lackluster fastball that put the Mets down three runs in the bottom of the first, and surrendered another three runs in the third. He finished the night with six innings, six runs (all earned) and four strikeouts. In four starts on the year, Harvey is 0-2 with a 6.00 ERA. Yeesh.
On the other side, Matt Wisler, called up from Atlanta’s Triple-A affiliate for a spot start in place of the injured Anibal Sanchez, was perfect the first time through the Mets order, surrendering the first hit to Asdrubal Cabrera in the fourth inning, and a home run to Todd Frazier, his third, to dead center in the fifth. Adrian Gonzalez added another home run, his second, in the eighth.
Harvey did settle down after the third to provide length, but Jerry Blevins couldn’t get out of the seventh, and, between Blevins and Gerson Bautista, the Braves tacked on another six runs.
The Mets tried to make things interesting, as Lucas Sims relieved Wisler in the eighth and proceeded to melt down; Sims was ultimately on the hook for all three runs the Mets plated in the inning, but it was too little, too late. Sam Freeman and Peter Moylan mopped up in Sims’ wake in a game that was never in doubt. Prior to Wisler’s call-up, Sims had been tentatively scheduled for last night’s start, and the Mets will no doubt think about what might have been.
As it is, they will have to consider that might be wrong with the artist formerly known as the Dark Knight. There are no easy solutions in sight, and time is not on Matt Harvey’s side.
In brighter news, Noah Syndergaard (2-0, 2.95) faces Sean Newcomb (1-1, 4.02) tonight at 7:35 p.m.
Photo credit: Dale Zunino – USA Today Sports