Relievers blow up again in loss to ATL
BRAVES 12
METS 3
ATLANTA – If Brodie Van Wagenen isn’t panicking about his bullpen yet, maybe he should start.
The Mets competed in a strikingly winnable game against the first-place Braves to begin their tough, 11-game road trip. But the usual narrative that went from haunting the Mets to completely demobilizing them showed its face when the bullpen doors swung open on Monday night.
Jeurys Familia and Drew Gagnon combined to give up seven runs on six hits as the Mets collapsed in a dispiriting 12-3 loss at SunTrust Park. The Mets bullpen has allowed a run in each of their last eight games. Every reliever (not named Seth Lugo) is erratic and unreliable.
“We just stunk again. We weren’t good,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said. “We have to recalibrate what we’re doing, and we have to do the job better. That’s just plain and simple.
“We keep on talking about how we have to battle back and get to .500, and we’re going the opposite way.”
The Mets urgently need to revamp their bullpen while they still have 90 games to get back on track. Van Wagenen will have to eat his words if the Mets’ allowances only let the general manager upgrade the ‘pen with the likes of right-hander Brooks Pounders.
The Braves flaunted their winning ways by taking advantage of the Mets traumatized bullpen in the seventh and eighth innings. Atlanta put up a four-run rally in the seventh and Brian McCann and Ozzie Albies slammed back-to-back home runs off Gagnon in the eighth. After all was said and done, the Braves notched their 10th win over their last 11 games.
The summation of Familia’s 2019 struggles can be displayed in one statistic: 7.81 ERA. Callaway has no choice but to call on him and hope his next outing is different than the last. But Familia is a ghost of himself. The right-hander is pitching with no confidence, which led to his seventh-inning relief appearance that included four batters, three earned runs, two walks and just one out.
“It’s concerning when guys are struggling to that degree,” Callaway said. “But it’s not just (Familia). It’s almost the whole bullpen at this point. What we’ve been doing obviously hasn’t worked so we’re going to have to change some stuff up.”
The bullpen was not all to blame. Instead of capitalizing on gifted opportunities, routinely hot hitters fell into a cold spell. Jeff McNeil went 0-for-4, including three groundouts with runners on base. Pete Alonso notched just one base hit over four at-bats. Michael Conforto went 1-for-4 with a pair of weak groundouts. Wilson Ramos and Todd Frazier combined to go 1-for-7. The Mets left six men on base and went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.
Zack Wheeler coughed up five runs (four earned) on 10 hits with two walks and four strikeouts, plus one home run over six innings and 108 pitches. If the Mets continue their downward spiral during this road trip, Wheeler is a trade target for many contenders. The 29-year-old hits free agency after this season.
“That’s something that you don’t want to think about. I guess that’s in the back of your head,” Wheeler said on potentially being traded away at the July 31 non-waiver deadline. “But I’m here now and I want to help this team win. I know we’re very capable of it. We have a good squad.”
Perhaps the only teammate capable of minimizing the bitter taste in the Mets mouth is ace Jacob deGrom, who takes the hill with a 3.38 ERA for Game 2 on Tuesday night in Atlanta.