2021 New York Mets Week 5 In Review 5/3-5/9
Monday
To start out the week, the 2021 New York Mets faced off against the St. Louis Cardinals. Joey Lucchesi took on the veteran Adam Wainwright. Trouble came early for the Mets when leadoff hitter Tommy Edman hit a triple. Just one batter later Dylan Carlson brought him home on a sacrifice fly to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead. This lead wouldn’t last long, though. After intentionally walking Jonathan Villar to load the bases, Wainwright hit catcher Tomas Nido with the first pitch of the at-bat in the top of the second. This tied the game at one.
Wainwright showed his control issues again just a couple of batters later when Jeff McNeil was walked to give the Mets the lead. However, Lucchesi wouldn’t be able to hold that early lead as in the bottom of the second Harrison Bader hit a solo home run to tie the game at two. The Mets came back quickly, though, as Dominic Smith brought in Michael Conforto from third on a groundout to give the Mets the lead again.
Right after that, Kevin Pillar gave the Mets some much-needed insurance runs with a two-run home run. Despite this, Lucchesi blew the lead again in the bottom of the third. Nolan Arenado tied up the game with a three-run home run. Rojas left Lucchesi in the game after this, and that proved to be a big mistake when Tyler O’Neil doubled to give the Cardinals the lead. The Mets bullpen was lights out after this, but they just couldn’t score and the Cardinals got the win to open the series. The final score was 6-5.
Wednesday
Game 1
Marcus Stroman t0ok on Kwang-hyun Kim in game 1 of a doubleheader. Paul Goldschmidt gave the Cardinals an early lead in the bottom of the first with a solo home run. A couple of innings later the Cardinals struck again when Nolan Arenado singled to put St. Louis up by two. In the top of the fourth, the bases were loaded and catcher James McCann had the chance to give the Mets the lead. However, after McCann hit a groundball to third, the Mets were lucky to even get one run. Arenado tripped on third base and wasn’t able to throw home for the double play. Regardless, the Mets were on the board. It wouldn’t matter in the long run though, as that was the only runs the Mets got in game one. The final score was 4-1.
Game 2
The Mets had a bullpen game in game two because Jacob deGrom was having issues with his lat muscle. Miguel Castro faced off against Johan Oviedo. Castro was good in his one inning of work, allowing just one hit and one walk. The bullpen got some early run support in the top of the second when a wild pitch brought Dominic Smith home. In that same at-bat, Tomas Nido hit a two-run home run to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. After that, Jordan Yamamoto made his Mets debut and pitched well in his two and two-thirds innings of work. He did allow a run, but the Mets were still on top. Aaron Loup, Trevor May, Robert Gsellman, and Jeurys Familia finished off the game allowing just one run. The Mets bats woke up for a total of seven runs securing a 7-2 victory.
Thursday
Looking to split the series, the Mets sent Taijaun Walker to the hill against John Gant. Walker faced some trouble in the bottom of the second when Harrison Bader hit a sacrifice fly to put the Cardinals up by one. This run was unearned for Walker because of a throwing error by Jonathan Villar earlier in the inning. Villar made up for it in the top of the fifth though, when he walked to bring in the tying run. James McCann also walked to give the Mets the lead. Taijaun Walker ended up going seven innings allowing just one hit with no earned runs. Trevor May had a clean inning in the eighth, and Edwin Diaz shut the door to give the Mets the win. The final score was 4-1.
Friday
On Friday, the Mets opened a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. David Peterson faced off against Zac Gallen. Peterson faced trouble early. With the bases loaded, Peterson hit Tim Locastro with a pitch to force the first run home. Peterson then walked the next batter to bring in another run. Right after that, he walked another batter to force in the third run for Arizona. Peterson was quickly taken out after that third run, and Robert Gsellman was brought in.
The inning finally ended after a good catch by James McCann. Gsellman also faced trouble in the top of the third but got lucky, only giving up one run with the bases loaded. That would be the only run the bullpen gave up. In the bottom of the third, Michael Conforto hit an RBI single to give the Mets their first run of the night.
Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Jonathan Villar stroked an RBI single to cut the Diamondback’s lead in half. Arizona wouldn’t have the lead for long though, as Francisco Lindor officially broke out of his slump and hit a two-run homer to tie the game at four in the bottom of the seventh. The game stayed tied until the bottom of the tenth when Patrick Mazeika hit a ball about fifteen feet, just enough to score the winning run. The final score was 5-4.
Saturday
Jacob deGrom wasn’t ready to pitch yet, so the Mets had to go with the second bullpen game of the week. Tommy Hunter got the start and cruised through Arizona’s lineup going two innings and allowing no hits. The Mets got runs off of Merril Kelly quick, when Jeff McNeil hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the third. After that, Francisco Lindor walked and stole second, The throw from the catcher was offline and Lindor ended up running all the way home to give the Mets a three-run lead.
The D-Backs got their first run off of Joey Lucchesi in the top of the sixth, when David Peralta grounded out to bring in Josh Rojas. However, the Mets added to their lead just one inning later when Francisco Lindor had an RBI single to put the Mets up by three. Arizona would end up scoring one more run in the top of the eighth, but it wouldn’t matter as Trevor May closed out the game for his first save of the year. The final score was 4-2.
Sunday
After two bullpen games this week to fill his absence, the Amazins’ ace was back on the hill in Queens to take on Riley Smith and the Diamondbacks. In the bottom of the third, Francisco Lindor hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a run. A batter later, Michael Conforto singled to bring in deGrom for the second run of the day. In the top of the fifth, deGrom gave up his only run of the day when Nick Ahmed grounded into a double play bringing in a run.
Things were looking good for the Mets, but it all came crashing down when deGrom asked for the trainer to come out while warming up for the sixth inning. He was taken out of the game, and his injury was described as “lower back tightness”. This is separate from the lat injury that was bothering him. He will be getting an MRI to determine the severity of the injury.
Miguel Castro was brought in for the sixth, and he had a solid inning, only giving up a walk. In the bottom half of that inning, the hero from Friday, Patrick Mazeika came up to the plate in a big spot with the bases loaded. He walked to extend the Mets lead. Jacob Barnes came in after that and struggled a bit, giving up a run. It wouldn’t matter though, as Edwin Diaz got the save as the Mets swept the Diamondbacks. The final score was 4-2.
Wrap Up
This week was a whirlwind for the 2021 New York Mets. On Monday night hitting coach Chili Davis and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater were fired, being replaced by Hugh Quattlebaum and Kevin Howard. Players expressed their displeasure with this move, particularly Pete Alonso who criticized the front office in a press conference. “It really caught us all off guard,” Alonso said. “It’s confusing for me, and, listen, I respect everybody who made that decision. But to me, it just doesn’t make sense right now.”
Later in the week on Friday, an incident occurred in the Mets tunnel which seemed to involve an altercation between Jeff McNeil and Francisco Lindor. They both denied it, saying they saw animals in the tunnel. General Manager Zack Scott didn’t seem too pleased with the way they handled it.
deGrom’s Injury
While this is all very interesting, the most important story is Jacob deGrom. If his lower back tightness gets more serious after an MRI, it’s hard to see the Mets coming back from that. Monday afternoon the Mets announced that despite the MRI coming back showing no injury to deGrom he will be placed on the 10-day IL. Nevertheless, it was a positive week for the team. The bullpen stepped up in big spots and Francisco Lindor broke out of a huge slump. The 2021 New York Mets will take on the Baltimore Orioles on Tuesday to start the new week, and after the week is over be sure to check out the week in review for all the information you need on the 2021 New York Mets. These weeks in review articles will come out every week for the rest of the 2021 New York Mets season.
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Players Mentioned
Joey Lucchesi, Adam Wainwright, Tommy Edman, Dylan Carlson, Jonathan Villar, Tomas Nido, Jeff McNeil, Harrison Bader, Dominic Smith, Michael Conforto. Kevin Pillar. Kwang Hyun Kim Nolan Arenado, Marcus Stroman, Paul Goldschmidt, James McCann, Jacob deGrom, Miguel Castro, Johan Oviedo, Jordan Yamamoto, Aaron Loup, Trevor May, Robert Gsellman, Jeurys Familia, John Gant. Harrison Bader, Edwin Diaz, David Peterson, Zac Gallen. Tim Locastro, Francisco Lindor, Patrick Mazeika, Joey Lucchesi, David Peralta, Josh Rojas, Riley Smith. Nick Ahmed, Jacob Barnes, Chili Davis, andPete Alonso.
