You won’t believe what happened to the Mets last night. They lost to the lousy Red Sox again! For the second straight night, Boston catcher Christian Vazquez was the nemesis, driving in three of his team’s four runs on two home runs. Both were off of Steven Matz, who didn’t look as sharp as he did in his first start of the season.
Even so, Matz wasn’t a disaster. He only gave up three runs in five-plus innings and left with a one-run deficit thanks to Jeff McNeil’s two-RBI single in the third. The Mets had two big opportunities to get the tying run across in the seventh and eighth innings, but failed miserably both times.
In the seventh, Robinson Cano continued to make himself useful by lacing a pinch-hit single to right. Future All-Star Andres Gimenez came on as a pinch runner and stole second base with nobody out. However, he never even reached third because Wilson Ramos, Brandon Nimmo, and Amed Rosario were all retired by Heath Hembree without hitting the ball out of the infield.
It was only a slightly different story when the Mets faced Matt Barnes in the eighth. Pete Alonso led off and got hit by a pitch. With one out, he busted his ass from first to third on a J.D. Davis single. Michael Conforto had a chance to tie the game with a sac fly, but he struck out in a big spot for the second night in a row. After Yoenis Cespedes walked, Gimenez grounded out to end the threat.
The biggest surprise of the night was that the Mets didn’t score in the ninth following another poor performance by Edwin Diaz in which he allowed the Red Sox to score an insurance run. Diaz didn’t seem to have any control over his stuff, letting up two walks, a single, and a hit batsman while only recording one out. Good thing Paul Sewald came in to put out the fire or this one could have gotten ugly!
The Mets scoring a third run to make the final 4-3 would have been the icing on this disgusting cake of a game, but that never came to pass. Brandon Workman pitched much better than he did on Wednesday night and threw a scoreless frame for the save.
The Mets are now 3-4 on the season, but that might be a moot point soon. Six of MLB’s 30 teams are out of action tonight due to COVID-19 concerns. That’s led many to wonder if the 60-game campaign can be completed safely. In fact, commissioner Rob Manfred has warned Players Association head Tony Clark that the season could be shut down if positive tests continue to sprout up or if players continue to touch each other and spit everywhere.
Should another outbreak materialize, Manfred, who has the power to shut down the season, could move in that direction. Multiple players briefed on the call fear the season could be shut down as soon as Monday if positive tests jump or if players continue not to strictly abide by the league’s protocols.
That’s pretty scary, but it’s something that has to be considered because of how many games have been postponed lately. If more teams are hit with outbreaks, we could get to the point where there’s too many missed games to make up.
For at least one more day, though. There is still baseball. The Mets head to Atlanta to take on the Braves, who split four games against Tampa Bay while New York was busy with the Red Sox. Rick Porcello will be on the mound against Sean Newcomb in a rematch of the latest Braves vs. Mets game that Atlanta won in a 14-1 blowout. Hopefully Porcello is a little more competitive this time.
Inside Yolk 
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