After Tuesday’s blowout victory, an interesting streak was extended. Toronto had never won a game in Queens. Shea Stadium or Citi Field.
Yeah. That’s over now.
If you watched or listened to the series finale between the Mets and Blue Jays, you heard the term “diamond dry” at least 50,000 times.
Diamond dry is an agent that grounds crews apply to the infield dirt to soak up moisture. Let’s just say that there was a lot of moisture. The forecast was rain, and once the rain started it would not stop. That forecast was on the money.
As this was an inter-league game, they wanted to proceed at all costs. So the Blue Jays and Mets played a game, that on almost any other day would have been postponed.
It was an interesting dynamic. As a fan, you wanted to see them play because of all the off-days they’ve had recently. Once the game started and you saw the condition of the field, you were praying it would be postponed.
Toronto struck first. Zack Wheeler was on the mound for the Mets. Coming off a strong outing against Cincinnati, Wheeler struck out the first two batters he faced. Justin Smoak was up third and put Toronto on the board with a solo homerun.
Wheeler bounced back with a perfect inning in the 2nd. He was even more impressive in the 3rd, striking out the side. That’s when the game got out of hand.
Opposing Zack Wheeler was J.A Happ, and the Mets had absolutely no answers for him. In the bottom of the 3rd, Happ slipped on the mound after throwing a pitch. There was a lengthy delay as hundreds of bags of diamond dry were applied.
The delay did not agree with Wheeler as he was an entirely different pitcher when he emerged out of the dugout in the top of the 4th.
With one out and Josh Donaldson on first base, Teoscar Hernandez hit a two-run homerun increasing the lead to 3-0.
The 5th inning was a disaster. The opposing pitcher walked. Curtis Granderson doubled. Josh Donaldson singled. Justin Smoak doubled. Teoscar Hernandez walked. 6-0 Toronto. Robert Gsellman came in and didn’t allow any further damage but the game was essentially over.
AJ Ramos entered in the 6th inning and he was atrocious. In just ²/³ of an inning, he allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk. The Mets are paying Ramos upwards of 9 million dollars this season.
As stated above, the Mets had no answers for J.A Happ. Over scoreless 7 innings he allowed just 2 hits and struck out 10. One of those hits was an infield single by Luis Guillorme, who hit safely in his first 3 major league at bats, which is kinda cool.
Prior to the game, Yoenis Cespedes was finally placed on the disabled list, retroactive to May 14th. Philip Evans was called up from Las Vegas and played left field. With Jay Bruce getting a day off and Todd Frazier still on the disabled list, the lineup looked very 2017ish.
Lefty Buddy Baumann made his first appearance as a Met and gave up 3 runs over 2 innings of work.
Brandon Nimmo put the Mets on the board with a solo homerun in the 9th inning, and the Mets lost 12-1.
It’s been more than a month since the Mets have won consecutive games.
The Mets have lost 10 of their last 13 games. In those 10 losses they have been shut out three times and have scored only 17 runs. In nine of those games they have scored two or fewer runs.
Juan Lagares went hitless following his huge game the night before. He also hurt his toe chasing down a ball in the right-center gap. X-rays were negative but who knows.
Amed Rosario and Michael Conforto were hitless, although Conforto was robbed of extra bases on a phenomenal play by center fielder Kevin Pillar.
After another off-day Thursday, the Mets will welcome the Arizona Diamondbacks to Citi Field this weekend for a 3 game set. DeGrom, Matz and Syndergaard will pitch for New York.
