The Mets did not pitch well, did not hit well, and dropped the second half of a double header against the Orioles.
The Mets, roughly two hours after wasting a wonderful performance by (All Star!!!) David Peterson, played an all around flat game, dropping game two of the double header by a score of 7-3 to the Orioles.
The Mets actually started this game off well, getting to starter Tomoyuki Sugano right away. Brandon Nimmo led off the game with a single and Francisco Lindor doubled to make it second and third with no outs. Juan Soto grounded out to score Nimmo, and Pete Alonso chased Lindor home with a sacrifice fly.
Unfortunately for everyone reading this, the offense all but stalled there.
The Mets, opting for what feels like their 10,000th bullpen game over the last few weeks, started Brandon Waddell. He threw a scoreless first, but got hit in the second. Alex Jackson, recently acquired by the Orioles from the Yankees due to their catcher position getting absolutely decimated with injury, paid immediate dividends for the O’s, doubling MLB The Show Diamond Dynasty legend Cedric Mullins home to cut the Mets lead in half. Jordan Westburg promptly hit a two run home run, giving Baltimore a 3-2 lead.
The Mets, to their credit fought back to tie the game in the fourth. Soto and Jeff McNeil worked walks, and Brett Baty singled to bring Soto home. After that, the game went off the rails.
Justin Hagenman, who followed Waddell after three innings of work, threw a scoreless fourth before struggling from then on. He coughed up the lead in the fifth, giving up a single and a walk to set up an RBI single by Colton Cowser. He looked to have gotten out of the jam by getting Ramón Urías to sharply bounce out to third, but Baty bungled the ball initially — and then was not able to handle the ball on the ground — allowing a fifth run to score.
Hagenman gave up a double to Alex Jackson in the sixth before getting pulled for Richard Lovelady. Lovelady got Jackson Holliday to ground out, forcing Jackson to third and the infield to be drawn in, already facing a 5-3 deficit. Lovelady got Westburg to ground out to Lindor, but the play forced Lindor to his left, and Jackson beat out the throw, making it 6-3. Lovelady then allowed a single to Gunnar Henderson, and walked Ryan O’Hearn, loading the bases and putting the game in “time to turn on the PlayStation 5” territory.
Rico Garcia came in to get out of an impossible situation and nearly did it. He forced Ramón Laureano to ground into a would-be double play ball, but the outfielder barely beat out the throw, making it 7-3.
The rest of the game was as routine as you would like, if you’re an Orioles fan, or as lifeless as you like, if you are a Mets fan. Rico Garcia held it down for the bullpen, throwing two perfect innings to get the team on the plane to Kansas City. Sugano, after settling down enough to go six innings, handed the ball off to their bullpen, who threw three one hit innings, giving the Mets their second annoying loss on the day.
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Box scores
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FanGraphs.com
Big Mets winner: Brett Baty, +13.2% WPA
Big Mets loser: Justin Hagenman, -20.1% WPA
Mets pitchers: -44.7% WPA
Mets hitters: -5.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty’s RBI single, +13.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jordan Westburg’s two run home run, -20.4% WPA