ATLANTA — Charlie Morton is a very good pitcher, sometimes even a great one.
But when the 38-year-old Braves’ starter picked the Mets apart on Tuesday night, it seemed like there was something else plaguing the orange and blue besides Morton’s curveball.
As Atlanta sailed to a 5-0 win, the Mets lost another starting pitcher to injury. Taijuan Walker followed Carlos Carrasco’s two-inning exit on Monday with one of his own. It was a low-grade oblique strain for Carrasco, while the Mets are pinning Walker’s short night on back spasms.
Tuesday night’s loss can also largely be pinned on those back spasms, which sent Buck Showalter scrambling to the anonymous part of his bullpen. R.J. Alvarez, called up from Triple-A a few hours before first pitch, had to take the first shift. The second batter he faced was Robbie Grossman, a deadline acquisition for Atlanta who, statistically speaking, is among the 20 worst hitters in the game this year (minimum 300 plate appearances).
Grossman’s 105 mile per hour, no-doubt dinger certainly didn’t look like it came from one of the worst hitters in the league.
That missile into right field put the Braves ahead by one, and some stellar defense from the Mets helped briefly limit the damage. Catcher Michael Perez fielded a wayward Alvarez pitch off the brick backstop and threw out Ronald Acuna Jr. trying to advance to second, and second baseman Jeff McNeil ended the inning with a super impressive running catch into shallow right.
Good defense can only take you so far, though, especially when Matt Olson connected for a two-run shot off Alvarez the next inning and the Mets’ hitters were zapped of their abilities. Morton looked like a much younger man on Tuesday. The right-hander who debuted before Obama was elected (the first time) struck out 12 Mets and only let four reach base.
Four of those K’s were courtesy of his sinister curveball, which he trusted on 48 of his 97 pitches. The ovation Morton received on his way out was well-deserved and his outing was reminiscent of the playoff performances that made him famous. Starling Marte, Pete Alonso, Daniel Vogelbach and Jeff McNeil each struck out twice against Morton.
This Mets’ season full of peaks is currently stuck in one of its rare valleys. Injuries will do that to you, and two starting pitchers going down in less than 48 hours is definitely suboptimal, which may have taken a mental toll on the offense. Again, Morton was fantastic, but some of the swings from the Mets were uncharacteristic of the bunch that won 75 of its first 115 games.
Injuries played a role in that too, as the eight and nine hitters in the order were both in the Mets’ starting lineup for the first time. Deven Marrero, batting eighth, and Michael Perez, hitting ninth, were not part of the plan as recently as three days ago.
Stephen Nogosek, known more for his beautiful mustache than his pitching, took the ball after Alvarez and chewed through two innings. A slight silver lining for the Mets is the fact that they got through these first two games in Atlanta, both uncompetitive losses, without completely overworking their bullpen.
Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino and Trevor May are all fresh for the final two games, when the Mets will try to salvage a split in this series. They also do not have an off day until next Wednesday, with the Phillies and Yankees in their path, so keeping as many relievers as fresh as possible until then will be a priority.
The Mets have been punched in the mouth for the last two nights. There’s no way around it. All of the players are human, and therefore not immune to the bad feelings that come with watching their teammates hit the trainer’s table.
Fortunately for them, just like they dreamt of during the cold, disorienting days of the MLB lockout, those games will be pitched by Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom.
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