SWEEP NOT IN THE CARDS
Mets fail to sweep Cards as lefty, offense falter in finale
CARDINALS 5 METS 1
The 1972 Miami Dolphins can rest easy.
The 2018 Mets won’t challenge their perfect season.
After strong all-around efforts produced victories in the first two games, the Mets found out how the other half lives Sunday as Steven Matz tried to keep small-sample perfection in the air at Citi Field. Suffice to say Noah Syndergaard or Jacob deGrom he was not, as the Cardinals denied the Mets a sweep of the seasonopening series with a 5-1 victory before a crowd of 22,486.
But two out of three isn’t bad. Hey, 161-1 is still possible.
“If we win every series, we’re going to be in a good spot,” Mickey Callaway said in classic understatement after experiencing his first managerial defeat. “So I’m excited about that. Guys played baseball the right way.”
But playing the right way wasn’t enough as Matz tried to follow the first two studs in the Mets rotation and lasted only four innings, throwing 89 pitches, two of them turned into solo home runs by Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong, who added another homer late.
“I was trying to do a little too much out there. I was really smooth and easy before the game and was feeling really confident,” Matz said. “Then, when a hitter steps in, I was trying to make my pitches better. And that’s when I get in trouble.”
It wasn’t all on Matz, of course. The Mets offense, so potent in the first two games with 15 runs and 23 hits, managed just seven hits, six of them singles, three by Juan Lagares, who replaced an ailing Brandon Nimmo in the starting lineup.
“Obviously our goal is to win every game this year, but that’s not going to happen,” said Jay Bruce, who accounted for the Mets’ only extra-base hit with a two-out, fifth-inning double. “But we’ve been playing well. We just didn’t string anything together. That’s how it goes. There is a lot of baseball left and I think everyone in here is very happy with the way we started.”
Matz wasn’t horrible, but it was arduous. He struck out four but he walked three and labored from the outset, enduring a 26-pitch first inning that set the tone for a lot of deep counts. Matz walked two in the inning, displaying the opposite of what impressed Callaway in spring training.
“He just couldn’t get the ball over the plate consistently. Really deep counts, falling behind. The one thing he did do was battle,” Callaway said. Too often, he battled himself. The Cardinals dealt the initial blow with DeJong launching a 3-2 fastball to left in the second for a 1-0 lead. The Mets quickly responded in the home half against St. Louis starter and winner Luke Weaver.
Kevin Plawecki, back catching in the job-share alignment with Travis d’Arnaud, walked and one out later was sacrificed to second by Matz. From there, ninth-place hitter Amed Rosario singled, driving in Plawecki and tying the game. Temporarily tying the game. With one out in the third, Tommy Pham singled, stole second and eventually rode home on the first of Marcell Ozuna’s two RBI hits, this one a double to left. Molina launched his second homer of the series — he victimized Syndergaard in Game 1 — when he led off the fourth and turned a 1-2 Matz pitch into a souvenir to left field and a 3-1 lead. The Cards went up 4-1 in the fifth when Ozuna, who went 3-for-5, delivered his second RBI hit, a single against reliever Paul Sewald. DeJong’s second solo homer of the day to left victimized Jacob Rhame in the eighth and made it 5-1.
With the Phillies coming in next, Callaway remained upbeat.
“They played the right way the whole series,” Callaway said. “If we do that every series for the rest of the year, we’re going to be in a really good spot.”