Same ol’ blankety blank Mets story
A beautiful afternoon in Queens began with such promise.
Coming off two straight wins, the Mets opened Saturday’s game with Brandon Nimmo ripping a leadoff double to right field and stealing third.
But roughly one minute later, the excitement was crushed, as Nimmo was called out on a replay review.
The teases would only continue.
At least the fan sitting with the Whole Foods bag over his head was wellprepared.
Despite their leadoff hitter reaching base in seven separate innings, the Mets were somehow shut out for the seventh time this season in a 3-0 loss to the Rays at Citi Field.
Before going 0-for-7 seven with runners in scoring position in the latest offensive embarrassment, the Mets ranked 28th in the majors this season in hitting with runners on base (.233) and with runners in scoring position (.226), while batting .208 with runners in scoring position and two outs.
“There’s no doubt we’ve struggled in those positions,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “We didn’t get the job done today that would’ve kept us in the game a little more, but some of that is probably who was on the mound facing us today.”
Tampa’s Blake Snell threw 7 ¹/3 shutout innings, and now leads the American League with a 2.09 ERA, but the Mets had multiple opportunities to give Steven Matz an edge in his duel against the 25year-old lefty.
Wilmer Flores, who registered three of the Mets’ seven hits, led off the second inning with a double and reached third with less than two outs, but Kevin Plawecki struck out and Matz did the same to end the frame.
In the third, Nimmo’s leadoff walk led to nothing more. In the fourth, Snell faced three batters despite Flores’ leadoff single.
With the Mets trailing 2-0 entering the eighth, pinch-hitter Jose Reyes led off with a double and reached third one with one out, as Snell was finally removed. But Friday night’s hero, Jose Bautista, who went 0-for-4, followed by hitting an infield pop-up, and Asdrubal Cabrera then flied out to center field.
In the ninth, Michael Conforto briefly revived hope with a leadoff single, but ended up stuck at first base as the Mets lost for the 16th time in their past 19 home games while maintaining baseball’s worst home batting average (.214).
“We saw some pretty nasty stuff,” Callaway said. “[Snell] pitched a heck of a game against us.”
He also had some help.