The Mets magic number is down to six. This was not achieved in the way the Mets would have liked to, but nevertheless, the number is six. The Mets were off to a hot start with a homerun by David Wright in the bottom of the first inning. Unfortunately that would be half of the offensive production for the evening. Logan Verrett put together a solid four innings to start the game. Verrett was effectively using his changeup early in the game, but hung one to Jace Peterson in the fifth inning to match Wright’s solo homerun. The game was tied at one. From that point on Verrett began dangerously living in the top of the zone.
An unlucky infield hit by Michael Bourn led to a sacrifice bunt by the pitcher. Terry Collins then chose to intentionally walk Nick Markakis to go after Olivera. Verrett left a fast ball up and Olivera crushed a three run homerun. After getting Freddie Freeman to fly out, that marked the end of the night for Logan Verrett. Gilmartin relieved Verrett and continued to put forth a solid effort from the bullpen, pitching a scoreless seventh inning. Robles followed Gilmartin and bounced back from a rough outing against the Yankees for a scoreless eighth inning. Tyler Clippard came on in the ninth and surrendered two runs, seamlessly ending the Mets chances of a comeback. Clippard needs some time to work through the stiff back that caused him to be unavailable over the weekend.
The Mets offense did not show up throughout the game. The eighth inning was the last chance to tie up the game when the bases were loaded with one out. Cuddyer pinch hit and sacrifice flied to centerfield, but Flores weakly grounded out to end the threat. The offense will need to pick up the slack or the boos will continue to come down on players like Cespedes. Fortunately for the Mets, the magic number was cut down to six anyway. The pitching rotation is set for the remainder of the regular season, and the team needs to focus on clinching the division. With all the talk of resting pitchers and off-season contracts, the team has lost focus and a killer instinct. The best thing for this team is to get the division locked up, rest, and then get back to meaningful games.
Tonight the Mets will be facing the Braves and Williams Perez will take the mound with a 6-6 record and 5.16 ERA. The Mets will counter with Bartolo Colon, who is going for his 15th win of the season.
