The six runs allowed by Canning were insurmountable for the nonexistent Mets offense.
The Mets came into Sunday looking for a win. They were staring down the barrel of a sweep at the hand of the Tampa Bay Rays. Griffin Canning, who had struggled some in his last start against the Nationals, was starting for the Mets. Shane Baz was starting for the Rays, in the midst of a disappointing season.
Both teams had similar first innings. Josh Lowe led off with a single for the Rays, but was erased by a double play and the Rays did nothing else that inning. Brandon Nimmo hit a one out single and stole second, and he made it to third on a Juan Soto ground out. But Pete Alonso struck out to end the inning and stranded Nimmo at third.
Canning struggled in the second inning. Jonathan Aranda and Jake Magnum walked to put two on with no outs, and a José Caballero single loaded the bases. Kameron Misner hit into a force out that brought in the first Rays run to score. Canning threw a wild pitch that allowed Magnum to score, and Danny Jansen then singled to drive in the third run for the Rays. Canning was able to stop bleeding after that but the Mets were in a hole early. And then the Mets went down in order in the bottom of the inning to keep them in that hole.
Canning continued to have issues in the third inning. After getting the first out he walked Junior Caminero, and Aranda singled to put runners on the corner. A Magnum force out brought Caminero in to score, but Caballero got out to end the inning before the Rays could score more runs. The Mets threatened in the third, with an Luisangel Acuña single and a Francisco Lindor walk to put two on with one out. After a Nimmo strikeout, Soto walked to load the bases for Alonso, but Alonso struck out to end the inning before the Mets could score a single run.
Canning finally had a clean inning in the fourth, and Baz had one of his own in the bottom of the inning. In the fifth, Lowe walked, and Caminero drew a one-out walk of his own to put two runners on and end Canning’s day. Max Kranick came in in relief and immediately gave up a double to Aranda which brought in both runners to score. Kranick was able to shut it down there, but the Mets were then down by six runs. In the bottom of the inning, the Mets had a baserunner, Acuña walked and then was replaced at first by Lindor via a force out by Lindor, but they didn’t get any further than that.
The next few innings went quietly, with each team getting a baserunner or two without ever converting it into a run. For the Rays, Baz came out after 6.2 scoreless innings with six strikeouts, and Mason Montgomery finished out the seventh inning’s final out. Eric Orze got the last two innings but couldn’t get the last out, requiring COle Sulser to come in and lock down the final out with the bases loaded. For the Mets, Kranick went two innings, giving up no runs of his own. Recently recalled Ty Adcock came in after him and looked great in 1.2 scoreless innings, getting four strikeouts in the process. Ryne Stanek got two outs and gave up a three run home run, after which the Mets brought in Jared Young to pitch, and he was able to get out of the ninth without giving up any runs.
The Mets were swept by the Rays, going out with a whimper. They had a number of baserunners but were unable to convert them in any meaningful way. They now look ahead to face the Braves, who have been disappointing this season, but will have some of their better pitchers facing the Mets, including reigning Cy Young winner Chris Sale.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Fangraphs
Big Mets winner: Luisangel Acuña, +2.3% WPA
Big Mets loser: Griffin Canning, -26.1% WPA
Mets pitchers: -29.7% WPA
Mets hitters: -20.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Junior Caminero’s double play in the first, +4.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: José Caballero’s bunt single in the second, -8.0% WPA