Schwei's Mets Notes: Matz Falls Back To Earth, Granderson Ties Leadoff Home Run Record And More
By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets had a chance to have a winning road trip but dropped the final two games of their series in Milwaukee to finish 5-5 during the 10-game swing.
The Mets lost the last game of the trip, 5-3, to the Brewers on Sunday afternoon. Steven Matz lost for the second time on the road trip and is now winless in his last three starts. The rookie lefty has allowed 10 runs, seven earned, in those three outings spanning 16 2/3 innings. Prior to that, Matz gave up just six runs in 40 innings over a seven-game winning streak.
The Brewers hit five home runs, including the first career homer for starting pitcher Wily Peralta, to beat the Mets 7-4 on Saturday afternoon in Milwaukee.
Peralta became the first Brewers pitcher to hit a home run against the Mets since Milwaukee joined the National league in 1998. Three Milwaukee Braves pitchers homered against the Mets back in the early 1960s before the club relocated to Atlanta in 1966:
- 7/26/62, NYM 1 at Mil 6, Warren Spahn solo HR in sixth inning
- 6/26/64, NYM 8 at Mil 4, Wade Blasingame 2-run HR in fourth
- 9/11/65, Mil 9 at NYM 0, Tony Cloninger, 2-run HR in second.
The Mets beat the Brewers 2-1 in 11 innings Friday night at Miller Park. It was the third extra-inning win for the Mets all-time in Milwaukee, including one against the Braves back in 1963:
- 6/10/16, Mets 2 at Brewers 1 (11), Reynolds fielder's choice
- 9/2/08, Mets 6 at Brewers 5 (10), Chavez sacrifice fly
- 8/2/63, Mets 3 at Braves 1 (11), Hicks single/Carmel sac fly
Curtis Granderson gave the Mets an instant lead with a leadoff home run in the first inning in New York's 5-2 victory over the Brewers on Thursday night in the opener of the four-game series in Milwaukee.
Granderson now has 16 home runs leading off in the first inning since he joined the Mets in 2014, tying the franchise record held by Jose Reyes, who hit 16 first-inning leadoff homers in his nine seasons with the Mets. Tommie Agee and Lenny Dykstra are tied for third in club history with eight leadoff home runs apiece.
The Mets avoided a sweep in Pittsburgh with a 6-5, 10-inning victory Wednesday night. Jeurys Familia pitched in and out of trouble in the 10th inning to record his 19th save of the season. Familia walked the first two Pirates batters, then after a double play, issued a third base on balls before striking out David Freese to end the game.
The only other time in club history the Mets won a game despite having a reliever walk three of the five total batters (or fewer) he faced but not being charged with a run in that outing was on July 24, 1984, when Doug Sisk walked all three Cardinals hitters he faced before being removed in an eventual 9-8, 10-inning Mets victory.
The Pirates swept a doubleheader form the Mets on Tuesday at PNC Park. Mark Melancon got the save in both of the Pirates wins. It was the 10th time since 1969, when saves became an official statistic, that a pitcher had two saves in one day vs. the Mets:
- 6/7/16, Mark Melancon (Pit)
- 6/5/03, Mike DeJean (Mil)
- 7/8/00, Mariano Rivera (NYY)
- 8/21/93, Darren Holmes (Col)
- 8/24/84, Greg Minton (SF)
- 9/18/79, Bruce Sutter (Chi)
- 7/11/75, Will McEnaney (Cin)
- 9/18/74, Dale Murray (Mtl)
- 7/2/70, Dick Selma (Phi)
- 7/30/69, Fred Gladding (Hou)
Ex-Met Jonathon Niese pitched seven shutout innings to get the win over his former club, 3-1, in the first game of the doubleheader.
Niese made 177 regular-season starts for the Mets. Here is how the five other pitchers who made at least that many starts for the Mets fared against them in their first matchup after leaving the club:
- Tom Seaver (8/21/77), Cin 5 at NYM 1, W, 9 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 11 K
- Jerry Koosman (4/29/84), Phi 2 at NYM 5, L, 5 2/3 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 K
- Dwight Gooden (7/8/00), NYY 4 at NYM 2, W, 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 K
- Al Leiter, (4/16/05), Fla 2 at NYM 4, ND, 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 K
- Bobby Jones, (5/15/01), SD 0 at NYM 1, L, 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 4 K
Happy Recap: Happy Harvey Days. Over his last three starts, Matt Harvey has allowed two earned runs and eight hits and struck out 17 in 20 innings. His ERA over that span is 0.90.
Nine Miles of Rough Road: Unhappy Returns. Neil Walker went 3-for-11, but made three errors in his first series in Pittsburgh against his former club, and then went 0-for-6 and left two games with injuries in the series in Milwaukee.
