Quintana’s start was a far cry from his previous trip to the mound.
José Quintana could not make it out of the third inning and exited after only getting eight outs in the Mets 10-7 loss to the Rays to open the series.
The Mets had actually jumped out to an early lead on Brett Baty’s three-run shot that nobody could find but it all went downhill from there. Quintana gave the three right back in the second and then the Rays put up a five-spot in the fourth. You wouldn’t know it by watching the game but the Tampa offense had been struggling heading into this game. Especially Randy Arozarena who received standing ovations from the crowd in an attempt to get him going. Whether it was the crowd or the Mets pitching serving up batting practice, Arozarena looked just fine at the plate especially when he smashed a solo shot in the fourth to make it 9-3.
The Mets offense did make a game of it in the fourth when they scored four runs. With the bases loaded Starling Marte hit a sacrifice fly, and then back-to-back doubles by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso scored three more runs. Tampa’s bullpen had also been struggling heading into this series but they mostly held the Mets in check. Their only blemish was another Baty home run in the ninth to pull the Mets closer. Marte did manage to come up as the tying run in the ninth but he struck out to end the game.
It was not a great way to open the series since the Mets had to burn alot of bullpen arms and young Christian Scott is making his major league debut in game two of the series. It also doesn’t bode well for Scott if the Rays have now found their offense after a dreadful April. The good news is at least the Mets also look better at the plate so hopefully it will be enough to win some ballgames during this tough stretch of the schedule.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Brett Baty +30.1% WPA
Big Mets loser: José Quintana, -60.3% WPA
Mets pitchers: -61.7% WPA
Mets hitters: +11.7% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brett Baty home run in second
Teh sux0rest play: Jose Caballero double to center in second