Mets fall short against Padres Royals-Yanks game postponed
New York — Dinelson Lamet overpowered the Mets in his major league debut, New York's Rafael Montero labored on short notice and the San Diego Padres won 4-3 on a rainy Thursday night. Scattered showers soaked Queens all day, and thunderstorms were forecast for midgame, although heavy rain never came. Mets manager Terry Collins pushed back scheduled starter Jacob deGrom to try avoiding an abbreviated outing, instead telling Montero around 3:45 p.m. that he'd start the 7:10 p.m. contest.
Montero (0-4) allowed two runs during a 45-pitch first inning, including a bases-loaded walk to Matt Szczur.
Montero threw 87 pitches over three innings, giving up three runs, five hits and three walks. His ERA rose to 8.24.
Lamet (1-0) began his day by striking out Michael Conforto on three fastballs — the last at 98 mph — and cruised through five innings of onerun ball. The 24-year-old right-hander punched out eight and surrendered just three hits, including Lucas Duda's solo homer in the second.
Brad Hand allowed a run, but got the save by escaping a jam in the ninth for the second straight night. He got his first save of the season Wednesday.
Jay Bruce popped out in foul territory with a runner at first to end it.
New York had runners reach base in each of the final five innings, including two on and two outs in the sixth and seventh innings, but lefthander Ryan Buchter evaded both jams.
The Mets have lost eight of their past 11 games, and even red-hot Conforto had a miserable night in the rain. The leadoff hitter had struck out in five straight at-bats, including four on Thursday, before singling to right off Hand in the ninth inning. The left fielder also appeared to lose a pop fly in the rain or lights during the third inning, covering his head while the ball dropped about 30 feet away just inside the foul line. Hunter Renfroe ended up with a double and later scored on Szczur's single.
Conforto had reached in eight of 10 plate appearances in the first two games of the series and entered batting .341 with a team-leading 13 homers.
In the third, Jose Reyes doubled down the third-base line with Matt Reynolds at first, but the Padres executed a 7-6-2 relay with shortstop Chase d'Arnaud narrowly throwing out Reynolds at the plate. Duda added an RBI single in the eighth. Szczur has 15 RBIs in 15 career at-bats with the bases loaded.
Too much relief
The Mets used at least three relievers for the 26th straight game, the longest run in team history by 11 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Keeping quiet
On Thursday, Collins attempted to clarify comments he'd made the day before about his role in relaying injury news to reporters. Collins said Wednesday he was "not at liberty" to discuss Bruce's injury situation, an apparently new restriction for the normally candid manager.
New York — Masahiro Tanaka gets extra rest, and the Kansas City Royals get to stay on schedule.
The game between the Royals and New York Yankees was postponed by rain Thursday, with the announcement coming on a wet morning in New York City about five hours before the teams were supposed to play the finale of a four-game series. The local forecast called for inclement weather much of the day.
Instead, the game will be made up at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 25, previously an off day for both teams. A start time had not been determined.
Tanaka was initially lined up to pitch Thursday for New York. The ace righthander has given up 14 runs and seven homers over 4 2/3 innings in his last two outings. He is 5-3 with a 6.56 ERA in nine starts this year.
Despite the rainout, the first-place Yankees were still conducting business. As expected, they placed center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury on the seven-day concussion disabled list and recalled infielder-outfielder Rob Refsnyder from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Ellsbury was injured Wednesday night when he crashed hard into the outfield fence to make a catch, robbing Alcides Escobar of extra bases on the first pitch of the game. Ellsbury exited after the first inning and was diagnosed with a concussion and sprained neck.
The postponement gave Tanaka at least one additional day between starts, a routine he's more accustomed to. Tanaka has made 55 of his 84 major league starts on five or more days of rest, going 32-12 with a 3.50 ERA in those games compared to 12-7 with a 3.30 mark on four days' rest.
New York, which holds a season-high 2 1/2-game lead in the AL East over Baltimore, hosts the Oakland Athletics this weekend. Before the rainout, CC Sabathia was scheduled to start the series opener Friday night.
The day off could also benefit Kansas City, down a starting pitcher after right-hander Nate Karns went on the 10-day disabled list this week because of nerve irritation in his pitching arm.
The Royals originally planned to start Almonte on Thursday to keep the regular members of their rotation on normal rest. The washout was no doubt a disappointment for the 24-year-old, who made nine relief appearances with Kansas City two years ago. Speaking through a translator, he said Wednesday the Yankees were his favorite team growing up and he admired Alex Rodriguez.
Almonte, called up Sunday, was 1-0 with a 1.86 ERA in six starts and one relief outing this year at Double-A Northwest Arkansas, where he struck out 35 and walked six in 29 innings.
If nothing else, the Royals were able to move on without a potentially long weather delay on getaway day in New York. The Yankees took two of three in the abbreviated series, including a 3-0 win Wednesday night behind Luis Severino.