You can’t win if you can’t score.
Apart from mid-season pickup Marcus Stroman tossing another disappointing outing where he surrendered five runs in four innings, the Mets went 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position on Saturday night and collected only five hits in the process.
New York was shut out for the ninth time this year (first time since July 20 at San Francisco). It marks their first shutout loss at home since May 1, ending a 51-game streak at Citi Field with at least one run. That was the longest single-season streak in the Citi Field era (since 2009). On top of that, they have lost seven of their last eight at home.
The only redeeming hitter for the Mets was none other than Pete Alonso, who collected two hits, including a double.
Alonso doubled in his first at-bat to extend his on-base streak to 32-straight games. That’s the longest streak by a Met since Carlos Beltrán reached in 32-straight games from June 16-July 26, 2011.
Apart from Stroman’s hellish outing and lack of offense, New York also put together some sloppy defense which did neither the hitters nor pitchers any favors.
“It’s tough when you make those mistakes, because at that point we need to keep holding them because we’re not scoring,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said, according to the New York Post. “And obviously we have to win as many games as we possibly can at this point, so yes it’s a little frustrating.”
In the fourth inning when Stroman allowed four of his five runs, J.D. Davis misplayed a ball and allowed Scott Kingery to reach base safe. This was followed by a Michael Conforto errant throw which allowed the first run of the frame to score. After this, Stroman allowed three more runs, then hit the showers.
“It’s not a good feeling,” Davis said. “Especially when you know that leadoff runner should’ve been out, should’ve been caught and in the end it cost us a run and they took advantage of it. They made a few errors for us and we didn’t take advantage of it but they did.”
For the Mets, it was a game to forget. They have an opportunity to win the series tomorrow behind Noah Syndergaard.
With the Chicago Cubs losing, New York still remains four games out of a Wild Card spot, so their lucky season lives on…for now.
