In the middle of May, the Mets swept Arizona in Citi Field.
A win is a win, but it was apparent that the Amazins happened to catch the Diamondbacks at the right time.
Fast forward a month. Could there possibly be a better time to see the Mets on your schedule?
Having already lost the first two games of the road trip to Atlanta, the Mets headed to the desert, desperately trying to turn their season around. There was a time where the Mets thrived in Arizona. In 2018, Alay Soler might crack the lineup as a hitter.
The Mets drew first blood on.Brandon Nimmo’s first inning homerun. The solo shot was Nimmo’s 10th of the season. 1-0.
Steven Matz was originally supposed to start the series opener but was pushed back due to blister issues. Starting in his place was Jason Vargas, so you were kinda wondering when he would give that run back to Arizona.
Well, the answer was the bottom of the 2nd. Ketel Marte singled home JR Murphy and the game was tied 1-1. Give Vargas credit though. The first three batters of the inning reached and he only allowed that one run.
Paul Goldschmidt is back. When the Mets and Diamondbacks met in Citi Field, Goldschmidt looked completely lost. He’s rediscovered his swing as of late, and entered this series red-hot. His good fortunes continued in the bottom of the 3rd, as he took a 3-1 Vargas fastball over the wall for his 13th homerun of the year. 2-1 Diamondbacks.
Another Arizona slugger who is enjoying a nice run lately is David Peralta. He extended the Arizona lead in the bottom of the 4th on his 13th homerun of the year. 3-1 Arizona.
Jason Vargas would pitch one more inning and leave after 5. He gave up 3 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. He also struck out 5. If we are grading on the Vargas curve, that was a gem. He lowered his ERA to 7.39 on the season.
In the top of the 6th, we had a very positive development. Michael Conforto hammered a second pitch changeup to right center for his 8th homerun of the year. Hopefully he can go on a run to quiet the demotion talk, which I think is ludicrous by the way. 3-2 D-backs.
Hansel Robles, who is still on the team for some reason, entered to pitch the 6th. He retired the side in order, and recorded a strikeout of Paul Goldschmidt along the way.
Robles came back out to pitch the 7th, and walked Ketel Marte. He bounced back to strike out Jake Lamb. Chris Owings was next and he flew out to center. Daniel Descalso stepped to the plate and Mickey Callaway made a pitching change. The lefty, Jerry Blevins.
Blevins’ nightmare season continued as he allowed a single to Descalso, advancing Marte to third. He walked Jon Jay, which loaded the bases. That was the end of the night for Blevins who was completely ineffective once again. I guess Robert Gsellman was busy, because Callaway called for Paul Sewald.
Sewald immediately walked Nick Ahmed who is hitting .221 on the year. That’s the second time this week Sewald has been brought into a bases loaded situation. Both times he’s looked like a deer caught in the headlights. 4-2 Diamondbacks.
That run would prove costly as Amed Rosario would hit his 4th homerun of the year the following inning. 4-3 Arizona. Interestingly, 3 of Rosario’s 4 homeruns this season have come against Arizona.
The Mets would never get closer as Jacob Rhame came in to pitch the bottom of the 8th. David Peralta hit his second homerun of the night. Jake Lamb hit his first and the score was 6-3. That’s how it would end (obviously) and the Mets lost their third straight game.
First Mets team to go from Ten Games Over .500 to Nine Games Under .500 in the same season?
This one.
We made history!
Seth Lugo will pitch the second game of the series. Zack Godley will get the start for Arizona.
