Game Recap: Brandon Morrow Shuts Out Mets 2-0

A day after Terry Collins saw his pitching staff give up 14 hits and the most effective pitcher be his back up catcher Rob Johnson, the Mets skipper was hoping to get some innings out of Miguel Batista. However, that wasn’t the case as the injury bug hit New York once again, already with a fraction of their original regular lineup out on the field. Batista exited after two innings with back discomfort and gave way to Jeremy Hefner, who came in to eat some innings in his second Big League appearance.

He was able to do just that, throwing five innings in relief of Batista; the only scoring today happened in the fifth inning, when Hefner

gave up a single to Jeff Mathis, then a run-scoring double to Kelly Johnson to break the scoreless tie. Immediately after that, Yunel Escobar drove in Johnson with a single, which was all that Toronto starter Brandon Morrow would need, who went to the distance for his fifth win of the season, giving up three hits, walking one, and striking out eight en route to shutting out the Mets. Heffner impressed in his second appearance of the year, giving up only those two runs on four hits, no walks, and five strikeouts. Depending on the seriousness of Batista’s injury, Hefner’s performance may have earned him a chance at the starting rotation.

David Wright wasn’t in the lineup today due to an illness, and the Mets certainly missed their hottest hitter, as they were only able to muster three hits at the Rogers Centre. Altogether, there were only two runs and nine hits between the two teams, a day after the same two combined for 19 runs and 16 hits. The hits from the New York lineup came from Mike Baxter, Lucas Duda, and Ronny Cedeno. The biggest reason why the Mets couldn’t get anything together today offensively was due to the fact they couldn’t draw any walks. They have been working the count and knocking starting pitchers out early in games, but that didn’t happen. Morrow only needed 107 pitches to navigate through 9 innings, and only gave up one walk to a team that has drawn the fourth-most walks in the MLB, while averaging 3.65 per game.

The loss is the second in a row for the Amazins, and if not for their comeback victory on Thursday against the Cincinnati Reds, they’d be staring at a five-game losing streak. Thankfully, they aren’t, but today’s loss drops their record to 21-19, tied with the surging Phillies for last in the NL East. Philadelphia has won six games in a row to get back over .500, and the rivals are now both four games behind the first-place Braves, who currently stand at 25-15.

Probable Pitchers tomorrow:

The Mets are going to try and salvage the final game of this three-game set against Toronto as they send Dillon Gee (2-3, 5.65 ERA) who is also trying to get back on track, who has seen his ERA jump almost three runs over his last five starts. Toronto is trying for the sweep, by sending Henderson Alvarez (3-3, 2.62 ERA), who has already registered seven quality starts this season.