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Schwei's Mets Notes: DeGrom Has Another Unhappy Birthday, Granderson Becomes Franchise's Leadoff Homer King

By John Schweibacher
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It was a lost weekend for the New York Mets, who slipped to third place in the National League East with three straight losses to the last-place Atlanta Braves.

Julio Teheran threw a one-hitter, as the Braves completed the three-game series sweep of the Mets with a 6-0 victory at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon. Teheran's gem was the first one-hitter against the Mets at Citi Field since Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals did it in a 9-0 win on Sept. 9, 2013. The Mets were no-hit twice at home last season.

For the second straight year, Jacob deGrom lost a start against Atlanta on his birthday. According to Baseball-Reference.com, it was the 11th time a Mets pitcher started on his birthday.

Here is how deGrom and the other Mets starting pitchers have fared on their birthdays:

  • 6/19/16: Jacob deGrom (28), Atl 6 at NYM 0, Loss, 6 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 6K
  • 6/19/16: Jacob deGrom (27), NYM 1 at Atl 2, Loss, 7 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K
  • 4/28/12: Dillon Gee (26), NYM 7 at Col 5, Win, 7 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 7 K
  • 5/12/96: Mark Clark (28), Chi 3 at NYM 0, Loss, 6 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 3 K
  • 6/8/95: Dave Mlicki (27), NYM 9 at SF 6, Win, 8 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 6 K
  • 4/11/91: Wally Whitehurst (27), Mtl 3 at NYM 6, Win, 7 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K
  • 8/19/86: Ron Darling (26), NYM 6 at LA 4, Win, 7 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 4 K
  • 8/19/85: Ron Darling (25), NYM 1 at Mtl 0, Win, 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 3 K
  • 8/22/80: Ray Burris (30), LA 2 at NYM 4, Win, 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K
  • 4/24/78: Pat Zachry (26), Pit 4 at NYM 2, No Decision, 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 3 K
  • 8/30/66: Tug McGraw (22), LA 4 NYM 10, No Decision, 1 1/3 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 0 K

The Mets blew an early 3-0 lead and lost to the Braves, 4-3, Saturday night in the middle game of the three-game series. The Mets entered Saturday night's contest a season-high six games behind the first-place Nationals in the NL East. In 2015, the Mets never trailed by more than 4½ games in the division race.

John Gant, who was pitching at Double-A Binghamton when the Mets traded him to the Braves in the deal that brought Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe to New York last season, won his second major league start, allowing just one run and two hits in 6 2/3 innings in Atlanta's 5-1 victory at Citi Field on Friday night.

Five previous times in club history, a minor league pitcher who the Mets traded away started a game against the Mets before the end of the following season after the deal:

  •       Jesus Sanchez (6/11/98), NYM 5 at Fla 3, Loss, 6 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 8 K
  •       Floyd Youmans (10/5/85) Mtl 8 at NYM 5, Won, 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 K
  •       Jay Tibbs (7/20/84) NYM 3 at Cin 2 (11), No Decision, 8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K
  •       Jim Bibby (9/8/72) Stl 9 at NYM 4 (13), No Decision, 7 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 5 K
  •       Steve Renko (6/26/70) NYM 5 at Mtl 6, Won, 5 2/3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 BB, 4 K

Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first inning in the Mets' 6-4 win over the Pirates in the rubber game of their three-game series Thursday night.

Granderson now has 17 leadoff home runs as a member of the Mets, the most in club history. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Granderson has 13 home runs to lead off the first inning since the start of the 2015 season. That is four more than any other leadoff hitter in the majors over that span.

The Mets beat the Pirates, 11-2, on Wednesday night at Citi Field. Wilmer Flores, who entered the game with five runs batted in all season, drove in four with a two-run homer, a run-scoring single and an RBI groundout.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Flores became the first Mets player this season to drive in a run in three different plate appearances in the same game.

On Tuesday, Jameson Taillon, in his second major-league start, threw eight scoreless innings and allowed only two hits in the Pirates' 4-0 win over the Mets.

According to Baseball-Reference.com, the only Pirates pitcher to have a line vs. the Mets comparable to Taillon's as early in his career was Rick Reed, who pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing three hits in a 1-0 win against his future team in his major league debut at Three Rivers Stadium on Aug. 8, 1988.

Happy Recap: Help is on the way. The Mets are expecting Travis d'Arnaud to return to the lineup Tuesday when they begin a two-game series with the Royals at Citi Field.

Nine Miles of Rough Road: Jacob deGrom. The Mets starter's winless streak is now nine games, including three consecutive losses. It is the first time deGrom, whose record fell to 3-4 Sunday, has been below .500 this late in a season since his rookie year of 2014.

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