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Schwei's Mets Notes: Failure To Finish, DeGrom's Brilliance, Grandy's Longevity

By John Schweibacher
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The New York Mets rebounded from their season-high seven-game losing streak with two straight wins, but for the fourth time this season they failed to complete a three-game sweep.

The Mets' previous three attempts to complete sweeps ended in a 23-5 drubbing in Washington, a 7-0 loss at home to Miami and a 6-5 defeat against San Francisco, a game they led going to the top of the ninth inning.

On Sunday, the Mets lost 12-5 to the Angels. Tommy Milone allowed five runs, including a grand slam to C.J. Cron, before retiring a batter in the first.

Cron is the second visiting player to hit a grand slam in the first inning at Citi Field this season, joining the Nationals' Daniel Murphy, who hit his off Zack Wheeler back on April 23. The Elias Sports Bureau noted that prior to this season, the Mets allowed only four first-inning grand slams at home in franchise history.

-- 7/31/83: Jason Thompson, Pittsburgh (vs. Walt Terrell)
-- 7/13/07: Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati (vs. John Maine)
-- 4/11/10: Josh Willingham, Washington (vs. Johan Santana)
-- 8/12/16: Ryan Schimpf, San Diego (vs. Logan Verrett)

The Mets made it two straight wins over the Angels with a 7-5 victory Saturday night at Citi Field. Jose Reyes went 3-for-4, including his 2,000th career hit, and drove in two runs.

Reyes reached the milestone with a single in the first inning and is now the third player who began his major league career with the Mets to get at least 2,000 career hits.

They are:

-- Ken Singleton, 2,029
-- Amos Otis, 2,020
-- Jose Reyes, 2,002

Notables:

-- David Wright, 1,777
-- Hubie Brooks, 1,608
-- Gregg Jefferies, 1,593
-- Edgardo Alfonzo, 1,532
-- Tim Foli, 1,515
-- Melvin Mora, 1,503
-- Jeromy Burnitz, 1,447

San Francisco Giants v New York Mets
Jacob deGrom tries to pick off Joe Panik of the San Francisco Giants at first base in the fifth inning on May 8, 2017 at Citi Field. (credit: Elsa/Getty Images)

Jacob deGrom threw seven brilliant innings on Friday to lead the Mets to a 3–0 victory over the Angels. The veteran right-hander matched the longest start by a Mets pitcher this season, dating to deGrom going seven strong against the Nationals back on April 28.

According to Elias, the 17-game span without a Mets starter pitching seven innings was the longest since a franchise-record 21 straight games from Aug. 14-Sept. 4, 2004, a stretch that featured the Mets going just 5-16. The Mets are 7-10 during the current stretch.

The shutout was the Mets first since a 6-0 opening day win over the Braves. The only season in which the Mets took longer to record a shutout after blanking an opponent in the opener was in 1981.

On April 9 of that season, the Mets beat the Cubs, 2-0, on opening day at Wrigley Field. They did not record another shutout until their 60th game, a 4-0 victory at Atlanta on Aug. 18, a week after the season resumed following the players' strike.

The Mets' slide grew to seven games with a 5-4 loss to the Diamondbacks last Wednesday afternoon at Chase Field. Chris Herrmann ended the game with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the 11th inning.

It was the Mets' fourth "walkoff" loss in Arizona in club history and the third that ended with a home run:

-- 5/17/17: D'backs, 5-4; Hermann solo HR in 11th
-- 8/9/13: D'backs, 5-4; Goldschmidt solo HR in 9th
-- 7/21/10: D'backs, 4-3; Snyder single in 14th
-- 8/9/03: D'backs, 2-1; Finley solo HR in 9th

Mets OF Curtis Granderson
Mets outfielder Curtis Granderson makes a sliding catch to save a run in the sixth inning against the Braves on May 1, 2017, in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)

Curtis Granderson on Wednesday became the third player to appear in 500 games for two New York teams. The others were Bill Dahlen, for the Dodgers and Giants, and Wee Willie Keeler, with the Dodgers and Yankees. Both occurred in the early 1900s.

Granderson is one of just five players to appear in at least 200 career games for both the Mets and Yankees:

-- Darryl Strawberry: 1,109 (Mets), 231 (Yankees)
-- Carlos Beltran: 839, 341
-- Granderson: 501, 513
-- Robin Ventura: 444, 230
-- Elliott Maddox: 225, 210

Yasmany Tomas hit his eighth home run of the season in the D'backs' 5-4 win over the Mets in the series opener in Arizona last Tuesday, the fifth straight game against the Mets in which he hit a home run.

The Elias Sports Bureau noted that it tied the longest streak for a player against the Mets, joining Hank Aaron (1962–63), Ryan Howard (2006–07), and Giancarlo Stanton (2014–15).

Happy Recap: Terry Collins moved past Davey Johnson as the longest-tenured manager in Mets history Saturday. His next win will be his 500th as Mets manager.

Nine Miles of Rough Road: Milone has a 10.50 ERA, and has allowed 15 runs (14 earned), 19 hits and seven walks over 12 innings in his three starts as a Met.

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