In a banner day in Metsland, our beloved Metropolitans lost yet another game, despite the managerial change that saw Carlos Mendoza fired and replaced with Andy Green.
The 2-1 loss was a genuine pitcher’s duel from a rather unsuspecting place — at least from the Mets side of things. Old Friend Zack Wheeler was his typically excellent self. The now-veteran righty has shown no signs of slowing down, despite the off season thoracic outlet syndrome surgery that delayed the beginning of his season, as he lowered
his season ERA to 2.03 after his outing. He surrendered one run over seven innings, with the one run coming by way of a Jared Young single in the fourth, though he was lucky to not have surrendered two more. Derek Hill made an absolutely stunning catch in center field to rob Juan Soto of a two run home run, which would prove to be game winning, considering the final score of 2-1.
The Mets, to their credit, pitched well in the loss. Not that moral victories matter, really, but Zach Thornton deserves his flowers on the day. Thornton, who was called back up to the bigs after the Mets traded David Peterson away to the Cubs, matched Wheeler at every turn. He surrendered a first inning RBI single to Bryce Harper, but was nails after that, surrendering five hits, striking out seven, and walking one over six innings. With the season trending towards being lost, it is nice to see a young player put together a quality performance. Again, this is a strict no moral victory household, but facts are facts.
That 1-1 score was erased in the seventh, when Trea Turner singled a run home off of Huascar Brazoban. The Mets put runners on in the seventh and the ninth, but they simply could not scratch a run across to prevent the loss. It was a telling loss in regards to the story of the 2026 season, up until now: frustrating, and coming up short.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
FanGraphs.com" />
Big Mets winner: Zach Thornton, +22% WPA
Big Mets loser: Juan Soto, -16% WPA (this is a Derek Hill stat)
Mets pitchers: +15% WPA
Mets hitters: -65% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Jared Young’s RBI single, +7.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Trea Turner’s RBI single in the seventh, -20.8% WPA
