The Mets once again failed to produce any offense, dropping the second game of Sunday's doubleheader, 3-0, to the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field.
Kodai Senga failed to get out of the third inning, surrendering three runs on three hits and three walks with one strikeout while getting eight outs on 50 pitches (30 strikes).
Visit amunra.help for more information.
But the story of Game 2 was the same as Game 1: The bats failed to produce. The Mets left seven runners on base and went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and have now scored one run or fewer in 10 of 28 games this season. Rockies starter Chase Dollander was the beneficiary, allowing just five hits and two walks as he struck out seven batters in seven shutout innings.
New York, which scored just one run in 18 innings on 10 hits Sunday, fell to 9-19 on the season. Colorado improved to 13-16 with the three-game sweep in Queens.
Here are the key takeaways...
- Senga collected his first strikeout of the day on a good forkball in an eight-pitch, 1-2-3 first. The second was less successful with a hit batter and a walk to start the frame. After a fielder’s choice, a Senga 0-2 forkball hung over the plate and was ripped into right for an RBI single. But a pair of flyouts to left field stranded two runners. Through two innings, Senga had been leaning heavily on his fastball and forkball, with those two pitches making up 32 of his first 34 offerings.
Senga started the third with a first-pitch curve, and Edouard Julien lined it up the middle for a single. Senga then got stung by Hunter Goodman staying on a down-and-away fastball for a two-run shot to right-center on a ball that carried 390 feet (104.9 mph off the bat). It wasn't a bad pitch; Goodman just crushed it.
A four-pitch walk followed, and pitching coach Justin Willad was out for a visit. After a flyout, Brett Baty made a good play down the line at first for an out, but threw the ball into left field trying to do too much, putting a runner at third with two down. After a third walk of the game, manager Carlos Mendoza came out to grab the starter.
Senga, who was working on eight days' rest as the Mets looked to reset him after a tough outing in Chicago, just didn’t find his groove after the first and saw his ERA balloon to 9.00 through his first five starts. He’s now allowed 21 runs (20 earned) on 26 hits (five homers) and 13 walks to 23 strikeouts in 20 innings for a 1.950 WHIP.
- The bullpen then did its job shutting down Colorado's offense: Carl Edwards Jr. entered in his Mets debut with runners on the corners and two down, and walked the first guy he faced, but got a groundout to stop any further damage. Edwards issued a one-out walk but struck out the side in the fourth, with all three going down swinging at the curveball. He followed with a walk and strikeout in the fifth before adding a 1-2-3 in the sixth with another strikeout.
Luke Weaver allowed a one-out single, but picked off Mickey Moniak at first to get a clean seventh, Brooks Raley added a strikeout in a 1-2-3 eighth, and Devin Williams struck out the first two on the changeup in a 1-2-3 ninth to keep the Mets in the game, but the offense never arrived.
- The Mets had a chance in the first inning against Dollander. Juan Soto ripped a bullet one-out single up the middle (106.5 mph off the bat) and Baty, who had a tough time in Game 1 with three strikeouts looking, walked on four pitches to put two on and two out. But MJ Melendez popped out a 3-2 offering to the shortstop in shallow center.
- There was something really cooking in the fifth as Carson Benge grounded a ball up the middle and Ronny Mauricio yanked one through the right side to put two men on. But Tyrone Taylor looped a line drive at the first baseman to double off Mauricio at first, and Bo Bichette grounded out to short. It ended up being a 13-pitch inning for Dollander, getting the last two batters on four pitches.
- Bichette was hitless in his first two at-bats with a strikeout looking, thanks to a Goodman challenge on a 3-2 pitch that just caught the zone down and away. He was robbed of a hit with one out in the eighth when Ezequiel Tovar made a diving stop at short on a ball he smashed 109.2 mph to finish the day 0-for-4 with a strikeout.
Bichette, who played shortstop in Game 1, made a great pick at third on a hard smash off Brenton Doyle's bat (100.9 mph) for the second out in the sixth.
- Benge put a good swing on a 1-2 pitch to poke the ball the other way for a two-out hit in the seventh. He went 2-for-4 as he has looked much better at the plate in recent games, but popped out to left to end the game.
- Melendez, who was hitless in his first three times up with a strikeout swinging, dropped a double into the left field corner with one out in the ninth to finish 1-for-4. He also made a nice running grab tracking down a ball in the corner in left to start the fifth.
- Soto finished 1-for-2 with two walks and a strikeout swinging on a 100.4 mph heater from Dollander to start the sixth, after losing the Mets’ final challenge of the game on strike one.
- Marcus Semien blistered a single up the middle to start the second inning, but was caught stealing second a few pitches later. He went 1-for-3 with a strikeout swinging.
He made a nice play to start the seventh, ranging to the shortstop side of the bag to backhand the ball and make a nice throw to get Goodman running to first.
- Francisco Alvarez went down swinging on a letter-high 99 mph fastball from Dollander in his first at-bat and went down swinging on a low-and-away Dollander slider in the sixth. He finished 0-for-4.
- Baty finished 0-for-3 with a walk and a smashed liner (102.1 mph) but right at the centerfielder to end the sixth.
- Mauricio finished the day 1-for-3 with a strikeout swinging.
- Taylor was hitless in three at-bats.
Next Up
The Mets have Monday off before opening up a three-game set with the Washington Nationals.
Clay Holmes (2.10 ERA, 1.033 WHIP in 30 innings) gets the ball for Tuesday's 7:10 p.m. first pitch in Queens. Zack Littell (7.56 ERA, 1.680 WHIP in 25 innings, who leads baseball with 11 home runs allowed) goes for the visitors.