Schwei's Mets Notes: Exceptional Pitching Doomed The Mets In Pittsburgh
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets return home this week to face division rivals Philadelphia and Miami following a lost weekend in Pittsburgh.
Francisco Liriano struck out 12 and earned the win as the Pirates completed their three-game sweep with a 9-1 win over the Mets on Sunday, following up brilliant 10-strikeout performances by Gerrit Cole and A.J. Burnett, respectively, in the series' first two games.
The last time Pittsburgh pitchers had three consecutive games with double-digit strikeouts was back on Sept. 12, 1969, with the first two of those games coming against the Mets in a bizarre doubleheader at Forbes Field.
Bob Moose fanned 10 in the opener and Dock Ellis struck out 11 in the nightcap, but the Mets won both games by 1-0 scores thanks to RBIs from their two starting pitchers; Jerry Koosman and Don Cardwell.
But back to reality, Matt Harvey had shortest outing of his career on Saturday, allowing a career-high seven runs over four innings in the 8-2 loss. Prior to that defeat, Harvey had failed to go at least five innings only four times in his previous 44 career starts, the last coming back in June of 2013 in a no-decision against Miami.
The Mets lost 4-1 on Friday night, as Cole improved to 6-2 this season.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Cole is the first Pirates pitcher in more than 100 years to win 27 of his first 50 major league appearances. The only Mets pitcher to do this was Dwight Gooden, who went 29-12.
Jacob deGrom pitched eight innings and allowed only one batter to reach base in his 5-0 win over the Cardinals at Citi Field last Thursday afternoon. He began the game by striking out Kolten Wong but the Cardinals' second batter, Matt Carpenter, singled. deGrom then retired the next 23 batters before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning.
According to Elias, only two other pitchers retired 23 or more consecutive batters in one game for the Mets. Tom Seaver retired 25 in one game twice -- against the Astros in Houston on April 15, 1968 in the Mets' 24-inning 1-0 loss, and in his "imperfect game" win against the Cubs at Shea Stadium on July 9, 1969, when Jimmy Qualls, ended the perfect game bid with a one out single in the ninth.
The other pitcher, Elias notes, was Anthony Young, who, after a leadoff single in the first inning, set down 23 consecutive San Diego batters on July 7, 1993 at Shea Stadium. But right after Young's streak was snapped by a Kevin Higgins single with two outs in the eighth inning, Archi Cianfrocco hit a two-run homer to break a scoreless tie and the Mets went on to lose 2-0 in what would be the 26th of Young's major league-record streak of 27 consecutive losses spanning the 1992 and 1993 seasons.
The Cardinals took the middle two games of the four-game series against the Mets, 9-0 and 10-2. The last time the Mets lost consecutive home games by at least eight runs was back on May 6 and 7, 1984, when they lost to the Astros, 10-1, and the Reds, 11-2.
The last time the Mets lost back-to-back home games by at least eight runs to the same team was on April 28 and 29, 1981, 8-0 and 10-0 to the Pirates. One night after striking out five times in the Mets' 2-1, 14-inning win over the Cardinals, Randal Grichuk went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, a triple and three runs batted in Tuesday in St. Louis' 10-2 win.
A Mets batter has stuck out five times in a game five different times in club history. Here is how they fared in their next start following their "platinum sombrero."
* 4/17/68, Ron Swoboda vs. San Francisco, 1-for-4, 1 strikeout
* 6/24/69, Ron Swoboda vs. Philadelphia, 1-for-3, 1 strikeout
* 5/3/79, Frank Taveras at San Francisco, 0-for-4, walk, 2 stolen bases
* 5/29/92, Dave Kingman vs. Houston, 1-for-4, home run
* 9/30/93, Ryan Thompson vs. St. Louis, 2-for-4, double
The Mets defeated the Cardinals in 14 innings last Monday night at Citi Field. Only one other game played between the clubs in New York went as many innings and ended in Mets win. Here are the longest Mets extra-inning wins over the Cards in home games in team history: ·
* 9/29/93, Mets 1, Cardinals 0 (17 innings), Kent RBI double
* 5/18/05, Mets 2, Cardinals 1 (14), Mayberry RBI single
* 4/23/92, Mets 1, Cardinals 0 (13), Boston HBP with bases loaded
* 6/13/88, Mets 2, Cardinals 1 (12), Mazzilli RBI single
* 7/23/84, Mets 4, Cardinals 3 (12), Backman RBI single
Happy Recap: Four-game split with the Cardinals improved the Mets record at Citi Field to 17-6, the second-best mark in the majors behind only the Dodgers (19-6) through Sunday's games.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Sweep in Pittsburgh dropped the Mets to 7-15 on the road, the second-worst mark in the majors, ahead of only the Phillies (7 -17) through Sunday's games.
