PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks have proven to be a formidable foe for the Mets. Last week, they crashed the party at Citi Field and threw one of their own with a series win. This week in the desert, the Mets overcame a late rally in the first game of the three-game set before failing to mount a comeback of their own in the second game.
The Mets lost 5-1 on Tuesday night at Chase Field, putting runners on second and third in the top of the ninth but stranded them both.
All things considered, this might have been the worst game the Mets have played yet this season, and it wasn’t even that bad. But after rising to the top of the standings in April, the Mets have cooled a bit in May as they’ve dealt with injuries and tough pitching. They’ve lost five of their last seven, but only by a combined nine runs.
“You’re going to go through stretches where you’ve got to find a way,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “You’ve got to fight, and you want to go through some ups and downs. I feel like overall, we’ve been right there on every game. The guys continue to compete and that’s what you want.”
The Mets (23-14) might have gotten lucky with an injury Tuesday night. In the bottom of the fourth with the game tied at 1-1, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ripped a double to the left field corner, and left fielder Brandon Nimmo hyperextended his left knee trying to field it. He came up limping and center fielder Tyrone Taylor quickly signaled for the trainers to come out and check on him.
Nimmo remained in the game, though clearly hobbled.
“Felt it hyperextend when I went over to break down to get the ball, and was fortunately able to get off of it pretty quickly and, I think, prevent any more damage from being done,” Nimmo said. “So we’ll see how it is in the next 12 hours or so, but I expect to be good to go to play.”
Nimmo was seen by a doctor after the game, who said the knee is stable.
“For the most part, I think we dodged a bullet,” he said.
But the Mets couldn’t dodge the D-backs in the inning.
Left-hander David Peterson gave up what was ruled as a leadoff double from Randal Grichuk, a ground-ball that went right in between the legs of third baseman Mark Vientos, then walked Eugenio Suarez. Josh Naylor beat out a double play ball to score Grichuk and tie the game at 1-1. The inning continued with Gurriel’s double and a sacrifice fly to score Naylor and give the Snakes a 2-1 lead.
Peterson would go on to give up two more runs in the sixth inning, allowing four total on five hits, while walking four and striking out six over six innings.
“Kind of a mixed bag,” Peterson (2-2) said about his outing. “Felt good with my stuff, but poor execution on a few pitches and too many free bases with no one on.”
The Mets’ only run came in the top of the third when right-hander Zac Gallen (3-4) walked three straight after Tyrone Taylor beat out a double play. Pete Alonso worked a bases-loaded walk to score Taylor with two outs, but Starling Marte looked at three straight strikes to leave them loaded and end the inning.
“I thought we had some really good at bats there,” said Mendoza. “It was good to see Tyrone beating out the double play and keeping the inning alive… We just didn’t come up with the big hit with two outs, you know? But I thought in that inning, we took some really good at-bats.”
Gallen went seven innings, walking three and striking out six. With shaky fastball command, he relied on his secondary pitches and effectively kept the Mets off balance.
It could have been a different game had Vientos made a play on the double by Grichuk or had Marte swung the bat, but that’s not the way it worked out. They’ll try to close out the series with a win against the Diamondbacks (19-18) on Wednesday afternoon.
