Jacob deGrom was sharp early but fell apart in the fifth inning and the Mets’ offense was close to non-existent as they lost to the Royals, 7-1, on Wednesday night in Kansas City to fall behind two games to none in the World Series.
With the Mets leading 1-0 in the fifth inning, the Royals opened the inning with a walk and a single, and Alcides Escobar then lined an RBI hit to center field to tie things, 1-1. With runners on second and third and one out, deGrom got Lorenzo Cain to line out to center but then surrendered a two-run single to Eric Hosmer as the Royals took a 3-1 lead. Later in the inning, Mike Moustakas grounded a single to right field to increase Kansas City’s lead to 4-1.
The Royals added three runs in the eighth inning against Jon Niese to take a 7-1 lead, with two of the runs scoring after Addison Reed relieved him.
After Curtis Granderson and Daniel Murphy drew walks against Johnny Cueto to put runners on first and second with one out in the fourth inning, Yoenis Cesepdes grounded out to third base but Eric Hosmer‘s foot came off the bag on the throw to first base on a would-be double play, allowing the inning to continue. Lucas Duda then flared an RBI single to left field to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Lucas Duda’s error to start the bottom of the fourth opened the door for the Royals, who wound up loading the bases with two outs. However, deGrom got Salvador Perez to ground out to end the threat.
The Mets struggled mightily against Royals RHP Johnny Cueto, who retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced. Overall, Cueto allowed one run on two hits, walked two and struck out four while tossing a complete game.
The Mets mustered just two hits on the night, with both of them coming from Lucas Duda.
Jacob deGrom didn’t allow his first hit until there was one out in the fourth inning, but faltered in the fifth. Overall, he gave up four runs on six hits, walked three and struck out two in five innings.
Hansel Robles relieved deGrom to start the sixth inning and tossed a perfect frame.
The Mets and Royals will play Game 3 of the World Series on Friday at Citi Field at 8:07 p.m. ET.
Noah Syndergaard (1-1, 2.77 ERA) gets the start for the Mets, opposed by Yordano Ventura (0-1, 5.09 ERA) for Kansas City.
Matthew Cerrone:
I firmly believe KC’s advanced scouts won this game for their organization tonight, because their hitters were on deGrom in a way we’ve never seen in two years. DeGrom looked good the first two times through the lineup. However, the moment he had to pitch from the stretch, which coincided with the third time through the order, they were all over him.
He threw more than 30 pitches in the fifth inning and NEVER got a swing and miss. The bulk of the RBI hits were with two strikes. In 320 innings of watching this guy work, I’ve never seen a team that locked in on his every throw. The Royals were on him like white on rice, with single after single, hard hit after hard hit after hard hit up the middle. He missed with the occasional slider, which got tagged. But they also knocked 95 mph fastballs that hit his target. It was everything. They took away his out pitch in every at bat.
I say credit the advanced scouts, because this was not Jake off his game. We’ve seen him look worse and grind through. Tonight, he looked like he usually does. But, the Royals clearly identified something, be it a tick, facial expression, his timing, how he set, how long he took to throw, how he moved his glove, something was telegraphing whether he was throwing a fastball or off-speed pitch. I don’t think anyone can convince me otherwise. The Royals already make a ton of contact. In a situation like that, when they have a heads up, a pitcher has no chance. It happens. I give them credit. I just hoe the Mets figure it out in the next few days…
Lastly, as surprised as I am at how deGrom got rocked, I’m equally surprised at Cueto, who was outstanding tonight. He had outrageous movement on his two-seam fastball from the get-go. This, plus a big strike zone from the ump, and the Mets never really got anything going. They had just two hits against him, both soft contact off the bat of Duda.
I’m a little shell shocked. Last night as exhausting and stressful. Tonight was sobering and stunning. The Mets now bring the Series to Citi Field, where they’ll hopefully play a better, more prepared brand of baseball.
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from Metsblog http://ift.tt/1RCtQn4
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