Mets' Bats Silent Against Snell and Padres In Second Straight Loss
The New York Mets' fell 2-0 to the Padres, as their bats were nowhere to be found on Friday night.
The offense was shutout and combined for just three hits to drop their second straight game to start the series.
Despite a strong outing from Joey Lucchesi, the Mets' lineup did not record their first hit until the seventh inning off Blake Snell.
Coming off two poor outings, where he gave up 12 runs in 6.2 innings, Snell shut the Mets down, retiring the first 14 hitters he faced to start the game.
The Mets finally had their first base runner of the night after Snell walked Billy McKinney with two outs in the fifth. They were no-hit until the seventh when Francisco Lindor extended his hitting streak to seven games with a lead off double and an E-7, which allowed him to reach third base.
But his teammates were unable to drive him in, as James McCann and Brandon Drury struck out, and Pete Alonso popped out.
Snell's night was done after seven shutout innings. He allowed just one hit, one walk and struck out 10.
In the bottom of the seventh, relief pitcher Drew Smith exited with runners on first-and-second and two outs. He was replaced by Jeurys Familia, who could not find the strike zone, walking the first two batters he faced to force in the run to increase the deficit to two runs.
Oddly enough, two of the Mets' three hits on the night came in the top of the ninth inning. And while they were able to bring the go-ahead run to the plate with two outs against Padres closer Mark Melancon, Drury struck out swinging to end it.
In between another failed comeback attempt, McCann and manager Luis Rojas were both ejected for arguing a strike-three call with the home plate umpire. To be fair, McCann was rung up on a ball way inside that appeared to be out of the strike zone.
The Mets wasted a solid pitching performance from Lucchesi, who returned to his former home stadium in Petco Park and delivered his longest outing of the year going 4.2 innings, with three strikeouts, allowing one run on four hits.
The left-hander was spotless with the exception of one mistake he made to his former teammate Manny Machado, who took him deep for a solo home run in the bottom of the first.
On a positive note, Lucchesi has now produced three straight stellar outings, striking out 13 and allowing just two runs in his last 12.1 innings.
The Mets will look to salvage the series in Game 3-of-4 on Saturday night with ace Jacob deGrom on the mound against Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove. But if the Amazins' hope to get back in the win column, their offense must wake up, as they've only been able to scratch out three runs on nine hits in the first two contests.
