Mets Slip Under .500 For First Time in 2019

BREWERS 4 - METS 3 

18 INNINGS 

It took 18 innings, and at the end of the day the New York Mets are now under .500 for the first time this season following a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday night.

Having taken a 3-2 lead in the top of the 18^th on Jeff McNeil’s single to left that scored Andy Hechavarria from second base, reliever Chris Flexen, with an assist from home plate umpire Angel Hernandez, gave it right back to Milwaukee.

On a night where the Mets bullpen was truly phenomenal, Flexen was the last guy out of the Mets bullpen as the game reached the 17^th and 18^th innings. Blame Manager Mickey Callaway all you want, but there was nowhere else to go, unless he was willing to warm up a starting pitcher. 

With the game still tied at two, Flexen impressively got out of trouble in the 17^th inning when he worked around a leadoff double by Ryan Braun and an intentional walk to Ben Gamel.

However in the 18^th, he completely lost the strike zone.

Flexen walked Eric Thames on five pitches, even tough there were two pitches in the at bat that were clearly strikes that were clearly missed by Angel Hernandez.

After jamming Mike Moustakas into a fly-out to center, Flexen walked Yasmani Grandal on five pitches, and walked Travis Shaw on four pitches. Ironically, all four pitches to Shaw were right on the corner of the strike-zone, and could have been called. But don’t tell that to Herandez – infamously baseball’s worst umpire.

Still, Flexen should have been more aggressive in the strike zone and not left it up to Hernandez to decide what was and was not a strike. This is now two uninspiring outings for Flexen this year, who now boasts an ERA of 11.12.

Finally, Braun made the Mets pay lining a singe down the right field line scoring both Thames and Grandal to win in for Milwaukee.

The loss is a frustrating one for New York.  The Mets offense was once again non-existent. New York went a combined 1-for-3 with Runners In Scoring Position, and walked a grand total of one time, which over the course of an 18-inning game is inexcusable.

Outside of Pete Alonso, who remains hot, and tied this game at two back in the ninth inning on a solo home runs, and McNeil, who broke out of his slump with a three-hit performance, nobody else is hitting.

Robinson Cano went 0-for-7. Michael Conforto went 1-for-5, although he showed a couple of good swings. Wilson Ramos was 1-for-6. Amed Rosario went 1-for-7.

Over the last four games, the Mets, as a team are hitting .170 (26-for-153) with five runs scored, five RBI, six walks, 48 strikeouts, and are a measly 2-for-18 with RISP. Before Alonso’s homer on Saturday, the only other Met to go long this week was Noah Syndergaard.

The Mets lack of offensive firepower spoiled a solid outing for Zach Wheeler, who did well on Saturday allowing only two runs over seven innings while striking out 10.

At 16-17, the Mets have to find a way to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Brewers before flying to San Diego, Sunday night. New York will turn the ball over to Jason Vargas on Sunday. You could say this is “must win” game for the Mets and a “must impress” game for Vargas, who needs to give the Mets better than four innings of work.