Mets drop series finale against Orioles, 5-4

Noah Syndergaard pitched five decent innings, but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead as the New York Mets (64-56) as fell to the Baltimore Orioles in walk-off fashion, 5-4.

Game Recap:

The Mets jumped out to a quick 1-0 in the first inning thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Daniel Murphy. They were threatening to pad the lead, but Travis d’Arnaud stranded Yoenis Cespedes on second and Juan Uribe on first after a weak ground out to shortstop.

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Noah Syndergaard decided to make the bottom half of the frame an adventure. On his first pitch, Syndergaard allowed a double to Manny Machado. Then, surrendered a single to Gerardo Parra and walked Adam Jones on four straight pitches.

Chris Davis, and his 34 home runs, came up to the plate with the bases loaded and nobody out.

Syndergaard struck him out after a lengthy at-bat. Jonathan Schoop was up next and grounded into an inning-ending double play. The Mets, somehow, escaped the first inning unscathed.

The score remained 1-0 until the top of the fourth, when Wilmer Flores singled in d’Arnaud to increase the Mets’ lead to 2-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Orioles clawed back with a run to diminish the lead to 2-1.

Immediately after this half inning, the Mets took back that run after a Murphy RBI single, that drove in Curtis Granderson, who led off the inning with a double, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead.

The Orioles struck back in the bottom of the sixth when Jonathan Schoop delivered a two-run home run to tie the ball game at 3-3.

However, fortunately for the Mets, the seesaw battle tipped in their way thanks to a solo home run off the bat of Flores to give the lead back to the Mets, 4-3.

But, the Orioles decided to continue the seesaw ride and tied the game at 4-4 with a home run from Adam Jones.

Carlos Torres was asked to pitch in the bottom of the ninth, but coughed up a walk-off home run to the first batter he faced, Henry Urrutia, giving the Orioles a 5-4 win.

Highlights:

Both Daniel Muphy and Wilmer Flores shared similar box score lines tonight, going 2-for-4 with a home run and two runs batted in.
Noah Syndergaard had an OK game on the mound. He finished the evening tossing five innings, striking out six, walking two, but allowed three earned runs and eight hits. His ERA is now 3.17.
Both Hansel Robles and Carlos Torres allowed a run in their inning of work. Not good.
Juan Uribe, Michael Conforto, and Travis d’Arnaud went hitless at the plate.

Thoughts:

This was a weird game. The Mets jumped out to a quick, 1-0 lead, but the game felt like it dragged on. It felt like it dragged on in a pace that was unfavorable for the Mets.

Noah Syndergaard labored, yet again, in an away start, but showed in a few of those five innings, that he has the stuff to blow hitters away.

The biggest story, however, was that the bullpen continued to be consistently shaky, which is something a potential playoff team cannot have in order to succeed.

Nelson Figueroa mentioned it quite perfectly in the post-game recap, that the Mets bullpen demise has a different pitcher being featured every night, which shows that it’s not just one pitcher, but rather an assortment of them.

Starting pitching has never been the Achilles’ heel for the ball club. Early in the season, it was injuries. In the middle months, it was the lackluster offense. Now? It’s the bullpen.

It’s quite unfortunate that there aren’t anymore “sure” victories for the Mets anymore. It’ll need an offensive explosion or a complete game shutout by their starters.

And if you want to play meaningful games in late September and October, you shouldn’t need to rely on those extremes.

Up Next:

The Mets will experience an off day tomorrow, but will resume play on Friday at Colorado against the Rockies.

Bartolo Colon will take the mound with a first pitch scheduled for 8:40 p.m.