After looking unbeatable a month ago, the Mets couldn’t beat the second-worst team in the National League.
To be fair, the series had already been won and the conditions were less than ideal. The Mets battled rain, wind and some questionable umpiring Wednesday night at Citi Field, in a 4-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, only the second shutout loss of the season and the first in more than a month (April 9 vs. the Miami Marlins).
Clay Holmes gave the bullpen six innings when it looked like he’d be done for in the fifth, which was a victory of sorts, but that was the only victory of the night for the home team. Holmes, who had given up only one home run all season prior to Wednesday, gave up two home runs while the Bucs and their bullpen shut down the Mets.
“Overall, I thought the sinker wasn’t there today,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Holmes. “There were a lot of fly balls, there was a lot of balls in the air. But he was still able to give us six innings and kept us in there.”
After a 15-minute delay to the start of the game, the rain started once again in the bottom of the first. The Mets loaded the bases on left-hander Bailey Falter, but Luis Torrens struck out to end the inning.
The rain picked up steadily in the top of the second. Holmes got the first two out before giving up a single to Isiah Kiner-Falefa. He had Matt Gorski on 0-2, and threw a slider that the first baseman laid off. It should have been strike 3, with the pitch landing in the glove of Torrens just below the top of the zone, but home plate umpire Carlos Torres ruled it a ball.
Holmes then threw a sweeper up. Higher than the slider, it could have been considered a borderline pitch, but it was ruled ball 2. Ball 3 was legitimate, nowhere near the zone. Gorski fouled off the sixth pitch to work the count full.
Gorkski didn’t miss on the seventh pitch, another slider, this one over the heart of the plate. Pittsburgh went up 2-0 on Gorski’s second home run of the season.
“Two calls that we didn’t get there,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “At 0-2, he threw that in the strike zone and we didn’t get that one. And then another one that clips the strike zone and we didn’t get that one. Then the rain started coming down pretty hard, and he lost the feel for the ball there.”
The ball was wet and slick, making it difficult for Holmes to throw his breaking pitches.
“Some tough hops there,” Holmes said. “Losing grip on the ball there and trying to make pitches. I went with the slider maybe too many times there, but I thought it was something I could control. I ended up getting beat with it.”
Heading into the bottom of the second, the grounds crew came out to dry the field. The rain started to taper off as the diamond dry was applied to the dirt and the game was paused for several minutes. When play resumed, Falter struck out the first two hitters he faced, then walked Jose Azocar and picked him off first base.
Mendoza didn’t have a problem with the way the umpires handled the weather.
“It was playable,” he said. “It came down hard for a few seconds there. Unfortunately, we were on defense there, trying to get the last out, but then it was fine.”
It was a bad night for the Mets (28-16), a rarity so far this season.
They loaded the bases on Falter again in the fourth inning, but interim manager Don Kelly played it conservative by going to his bullpen for Chase Shugart to counter Azocar. Falter had only thrown 78 pitches, but with five walks, he wasn’t exactly showing strong control.
Shugart, a right-hander, got Azocar to pop up to center field.
The Mets managed only four hits off Falter and none were hit particularly hard. Shugart (2-3) and right-handers Tanner Rainey, Jared Bednar and Dennis Santana held them scoreless the rest of the way to help the Pirates (15-29) to just their third win this month.
The home hitters stranded eight runners and went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
“Not much,” Mendoza said. “To be honest with you, I thought we controlled the strike zone against their starter. A ew walks, a couple of bases loaded situations, but we just couldn’t come through. And then once they got to the bullpen, it became a bullpen game and they got the matchups they wanted.”
Jared Triolo hit a two-run homer with none out in the fifth. Holmes then put two on before getting Joey Bart to ground into a double play.
Holmes (5-2) went six innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four, though one could make the argument that it could have been five.
“It’s one of those things where you’ve got to compete through and keep making pitches,” Holmes said. “I just couldn’t make one there.”
Originally Published:
