7/6 Mets Game Recap: Marcum Falters Against Former Team, Mets Lose 7-6

After Shaun Marcum insisted on John Buck, it almost paid off with Buck breaking out of his slump. The Mets, however, kept giving the runs back that they managed to scratch across, losing to the Brewers 7-6 live on Fox. Marcum’s former team handed him his 10th loss of the year.

Box score and Highlights here.

After a silent top of the 1st, Norichika Aoki led off with a dribbler single, moving over on a Jean Segura ground out. Carlos Gomez‘s fly out moved him to 3rd, and a 2 out single by Jonathan Lucroy drove him in.

Logan Shafer singled with 1 out in the 2nd, Yovani Gallardo singled him over to 3rd, and Aoki singled to right for the 2nd Milwaukee run, also sending Gallardo to 3rd. Jean Segura then sac flied to right, scoring the 3rd Brew Crew run. Gomez struck out to end the inning.

Lucroy hit a solo shot with 1 out into the 3rd.

Gallardo also doubled to lead off their 4th, and came around to score the 5th run on a Jean Segura single.

John Buck got the Mets on the board in the 5th to lead off with a home run right down the right field line that glanced off the foul pool. The umpires took a look inside and signaled a home run. Omar Quintanilla then singled before Marcum bunted him over to 2nd. Eric Young, Jr. got him over to 3rd on a ground ball to 1st. Murphy then hit a ground ball double down the right field line to score Q. David Wright almost got a hit as well, but Aramis Ramirez robbed him with a diving stop at 3rd to stop the rally at 5-2.

Ike led the 6th off with yet another walk, and after stealing a base with 2 out in the 2nd, he stayed aggressive on the basepaths by heading over to 3rd on Kirk Nieuwenhuis‘s single. Kirk headed over to 2nd on the throw. Buck then hit a 2-run single up the middle, scoring Ike and Kirk to make it 5-4. Quintanilla flied out to left, leading Terry to keep Shaun Marcum in the game, grounding into a force out to end the inning.

Unfortunately in the bottom frame, Marcum and Murphy combined to give a run back to the Brewers, as Gallardo’s bunt was thrown wide and not caught by  positions 1 and 4, respectively. The ball trickled into right, and Logan Shafer, who singled to open the inning, came around to score to make it 6-4 Milwaukee. Murphy was given the error on the play and Terry Collins took Marcum out of the game. LaTroy Hawkins relieved him, and almost threw a bunt away as well if it wasn’t for the fancy pick by Davis. Gallardo headed to 3rd, and held there on a ground out to Murphy by Segura. LaTroy walked Carlos Gomez, who then stole 2nd standing, but luckily Yunieski Betancourt popped out to Murph in foul territory.

Murph and David started the inning off with back-to-back singles off of John Axford, bringing Ike to the plate. He walked Ike to load them up for Marlon Byrd, who sent a sac fly to Gomez to make it 6-5. The inning unfortunately ended on a well-played lacer by Kirk to left.

Another run scored for the Brew Crew after 2 out and nobody on against LaTroy. Weeks worked a walk, stole 2nd base before Logan Shafer doubled him in.

With 2 out in the 9th, Marlon Byrd hit a home run that Carlos Gomez couldn’t get this time to make it 7-6 off Francisco Rodriguez. But K-rod, who struck out both David Wright and Ike Davis, struck out Kirk to end the game.

Notables:

• Shaun Marcum (1-10, 5.29 ERA) went 5 innings, giving up 6 runs on 11 hits to take the loss.
• Ike Davis went 0-2 with 3 walks and 1 run scored to go along with some sharp defense.
• Daniel Murphy went 3 for 5 but made a crucial error in the 6th.
• John Buck, who was supposed to ride the bench tonight, went 2 for 3 with a home run and 3 RBI.
• Eric Young, Jr. and Kirk Nieuwenhuis collided on a catch made by Young to end the 8th. They seemed fine.

Thoughts:

Marcum just didn’t have it tonight. The Mets did their best to claw back in, but they kept giving the runs back with sour pitching and bad defense. Murph hasn’t looked as sharp of late, but he’s been so crisp I’m sure he’ll be fine.

Anthony Recker was supposed to get a chance today, But Buck made Marcum’s insistence nearly pay off. He certainly needed something along those lines to prevent from falling below the Mendoza line.

Nice to see the confidence back in Ike’s plate appearances. He’s been on base 7 times since returning, and has looked like the Gold-Glove caliber 1st baseman he is.

The Mets go for the series win, sending RHP Jeremy Hefner (3-6, 3.54 ERA) to take on LHP Tom Gorzelanny (1-1, 2.43 ERA) tomorrow at 2.10PM EST on WPIX 11.

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