The Mets came into their series against the Giants already scuffling a bit. They had just lost two straight games to the Cardinals, sitting at an even 3-3 record six games into the season. David Peterson was coming off a solid first start of the season against the Pirates, facing off against former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray.
The Mets started the game off with some offense, which had been sorely lacking over the past few games. After a lead off walk by Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto hit into a force
out, replacing Lindor at first and being the runner driven in by a Bo Bichette double. The Mets didn’t have any more hits in the inning after that, and the ball was turned over to David Peterson for his first inning of work, which was less than ideal.
David Peterson had a rollercoaster of a first inning. He threw just fifteen pitches, which one would think is efficient at first. But he was incredibly efficient at giving up runs, giving up three in the first inning. With two outs and Heliot Ramos on first, Peterson gave up a triple to Luis Arraez to tie the game, a double to Matt Chapman to put the Giants ahead, and he committed an error on a play at first to allow Chapman to score an insurance run. By the time the inning was over, the Giants had created an ultimately insurmountable two run gap between them and the Mets.
The Mets scratched another run across in the second on a leadoff home run by Mark Vientos, to come within a run of the Giants, but that was the only offense they had in response. Peterson held the Giants scoreless in the bottom of the second, but in the bottom of the third he gave up three straight singles that turned into two more runs scoring on sacrifice flies to put the Mets behind by three runs.
Neither team did much of anything in the fourth inning, but the Giants put up another run in the bottom of the fifth inning. An one-out Jung Hoo Lee walk drove David Peterson from the game in favor of Sean Manaea, who got another out before giving up a walk and a single to drive in another run and give the Giants a four run lead. The sixth was similar, with the Mets going out quietly in the top of the inning and the Giants scoring again in the bottom, their one run coming by way of a Rafael Devers solo home run off Manaea.
The rest of the game was quiet, with both teams trading zeroes for the rest of the game. The most notable part of the last three innings was Blade Tidwell finally making his Giants debut and earning a three inning save against his former team. But the Mets were unable to put any runs on the board after the second inning as their offensive woes continued.
Their pitching woes also continued, with Peterson taking the loss that was earned when the third run crossed the plate in the first inning, the Mets never being able to even match the Giants’ bottom of the first. Manaea finished the final 3.2 innings, but he gave up a run and was still experiencing his velocity issues. The Mets play their second of four games against the Giants tomorrow, with Nolan McLean taking the mound opposite Tyler Mahle. But even a gem from McLean might not be enough to overtake the Mets’ inability to score runs, which is an integral part to the whole “winning games” thing that is a vital part of baseball.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Bo Bichette, +6.3% WPA
Big Mets loser: David Peterson, -35.2% WPA
Mets pitchers: -39.8% WPA
Mets hitters: -10.2% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Bo Bichette’s RBI double in the first inning, +11.6% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Luis Arraez’s RBI triple in the first inning, -12.1% WPA
