Mets takeaways from Sunday's 2-0 loss to Orioles, including Jose Quintana's quality start ruined by defensive miscues
The Mets were handed their sixth straight defeat as they were shut out by the Baltimore Orioles 2-0 on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards, wasting another good effort by starting pitcher Jose Quintana.
Here are some takeaways...
- Quintana was very sharp through the early innings of work, snapping off breaking pitches for strikes and keeping the Orioles' batters off-balance by working quickly, changing speeds and using both sides of the plate.
Quintana allowed just four hits through six innings but allowed two batters to reach to start the seventh and he was lifted by manager Buck Showalter. His final line was six innings, six hits, two runs, two walks and six strikeouts on 92 pitches (57 strikes).
On 27 curveballs, Quintana got a called strike or a whiff on 13, his best pitch of the day. And if it weren't for a few defensive miscues, he could have been the winning pitcher.
- The Mets' defense did make a pair of nice defensive plays, with Francisco Lindor fielding a rocket (109.5 mph off the bat) at short to retire Adley Rutschman to start the game and Rafael Ortega making a diving grab in center to get Ramon Urias in the fourth.
But in the bottom of the fifth, Ortega misread a ball off Jorge Mateo's bat and rather than an out allowed a one-out triple. With the infield in, Rutschman hit a grounder right at Mark Vientos, but the third baseman tried to backhand the ball and he bobbled it. This allowed Mateo to score the game's first run as he was running on contact. Had Vientos fielded it cleanly, he would have had a good chance to nail Mateo at the plate.
- James McCann went down on strikes in his first two at-bats, but he lead off the bottom of the seventh with a hot shot past a diving Vientos at third base for another double in the series. Ryan McKenna would single after failing to lay down a sacrifice bunt and Baltimore had the corners covered with no outs and Trevor Gott was summoned from the bullpen ending Quintana's good outing.
The Mets' defense had another defensive miscue when second baseman Danny Mendick, playing in, did not throw home on a softly hit ball up the middle, and only got an out at second base, as McCann scored to make it 2-0.
- The Mets got base runners in each of the first two innings off Baltimore's starter Kyle Bradish. But Pete Alonso bounced into a pair of inning-ending double plays in the first and third, the latter time with two on base.
Alonso got another chance with men on base with two outs in the fifth after Jeff McNeil walked and Lindor poked a single into right field. The first baseman worked a walk to load the bases and Baltimore summoned left-hander Cionel Perez out of the bullpen to face lefty DJ Stewart, who grounded out weakly to second base on a 2-0 pitch to end the inning.
- Bradish struggled with his command and the Mets batters did not help him out, working five walks through innings and forcing the starter into deep counts and forced him out of the game after just 4.2 innings and 87 pitches (45 strikes).
However, those runners on base and scoring chances didn't materialize into runs. New York went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position on the day and left nine runners on base.
- Vientos bounced back by smashing a double (110.4 mph off the bat) to left field to lead off the ninth inning off the Orioles’ hard-throwing closer Felix Bautista. It was the Mets' first hit since Lindor's single in the fifth. But after Brett Baty and pinch-hitter Brandon Nimmo both flew out to left field, pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach struck out swinging to end the game.
- Adam Ottavino came in to pitch the eighth inning and walked the leadoff hitter on a 3-2 pitch clock violation. It was the only Oriole the Mets' bullpen allowed to reach.
Highlights
Upcoming schedule
The Mets return to Queens after the six-game road trip for a 10-game homestand against the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates beginning on Monday night at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.
Kodai Senga (7-6, 3.25 ERA) will get the start against Chicago left-hander Drew Smyly (8-7, 4.71 ERA).
