ATLANTA — The very best pitching workers in baseball is all of the sudden in bother.
After shedding two starters to accidents inside lower than every week, the Mets turned to right-hander Paul Blackburn on Wednesday evening towards the Atlanta Braves. The outcomes weren’t nice in a 5-0 loss at Truist Park, however the blame doesn’t lie solely on Blackburn.
The loss prolonged their shedding streak to a season-high 5 video games and price them a sequence win over a key divisional opponent. They weren’t precisely sloppy, however additionally they weren’t sharp. Nonetheless, there isn’t a panic but.
“We’ve had a sense of urgency since spring training,” stated shortstop Francisco Lindor. “This is not like, ‘Oh, we’re losing. We’ve got to kick it up a notch.’ No, we’ve been doing that since spring training. Everybody understands the ultimate goal here, and it’s a standard.”
Left-hander Chris Sale, the 2024 NL Cy Younger Award winner got here one out shy of tossing a whole recreation shutout. The Braves crowd booed as supervisor Brian Snitker got here out to get his pitcher after a single by Brandon Nimmo with two outs within the ninth, bringing in nearer Raisel Iglesias. Sale (5-4) scattered 5 hits, all singles, and walked one, limiting onerous contact and putting out seven.
He pitched like a Cy Younger Award winner, utilizing largely a slider and a four-seam fastball to get into optimum counts, and a tough sinker to get outs on the bottom. The Mets had an particularly powerful time along with his slider.
“He used that pitch to not only get ahead, [but to] get chases, get back in counts,” stated supervisor Carlos Mendoza. “On top of that, when he’s throwing from 96-97 from that angle, that’s what makes him who he is.”
Starling Marte managed two hits, Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil every managed one. Sale was extraordinarily environment friendly along with his pitches, one thing the Mets couldn’t say themselves.
“He executed,” stated Lindor. “Hats off to him. He was really, really good.”
Ronald Acuña Jr. teed off on the primary pitch he noticed from Blackburn within the backside of the primary. Blackburn then put the subsequent two on base, with a ground-ball out advancing them to second and third.
Alex Verdugo, the runner on third, scored when catcher Luis Torrens failed to dam a ball within the grime and tried to discipline it utilizing his masks. House plate umpire Edwin Jimenez instantly dominated it an error, sending Verdugo dwelling and Austin Riley to 3rd, the place he was capable of rating on Marcell Ozuna’s fly ball to heart discipline.
Torrens knew instantly he had made a mistake by touching the ball along with his gear, which is towards the principles.
“That was a mental mistake,” Mendoza stated. “He knows the rule, he knows that he can’t do it. Just a mental error there.”
The Mets have been down 3-0 early, and the Braves (33-39) tacked on one other run within the fourth after Blackburn exited. Jose Butto couldn’t maintain the inherited runner on with two outs, scoring one on a wild pitch. The Mets solely had him for 75 pitches, and whereas he’d wish to throw 100, the membership desires to maintain him on the 75-85 vary whereas he’s enjoying a swingman position.
After making a begin earlier this month towards the Los Angeles Dodgers, Blackburn then pitched out of the bullpen, which is the place the struggles started. He was charged with 4 runs (three earned) on 4 hits, walked two and struck out two over solely 3 2/3 innings within the loss (0-1).
“First pitch of the game, Acuña gets him,” Mendoza stated. “And then I felt like he got away — especially in the first inning — from his cutter, which is one of his better pitches, right? They got him there.”
Since shutting out the Dodgers over 5 innings, Blackburn has allowed 10 earned runs over his final three video games (8.0 innings).
“I feel like early on, I was kind of fighting myself out there a little bit,” Blackburn stated. “As the game went on, I feel like I kind of got into a good rhythm. Started to get a good feel for my pitches back. But it’s tough to go out there and kind of give them a three-spot to start there, especially when you know the other guy on the mound is pretty good.”
To make issues worse, Frankie Montas gave up 5 hits in his closing rehab begin, taking the third lack of his minor league task. The fitting-hander, who has been out since spring coaching with a lat pressure, has a 13.19 ERA in six rehab video games, and his clock is about to expire. The window on his task is up Saturday, and the Mets will then have 48 hours to activate him.
The Mets (45-29) raced to the highest of the NL East standings largely due to pitching. But its’ been pitching that has largely doomed them during the last 5 video games.
“We’ve kind of run into a rut here the last week,” Blackburn stated. “Mindset-wise, I feel like guys are exactly the same as being here when we’re winning every single day. So I think the biggest thing is just kind of keeping on that track. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low, just keep pushing forward.”
