NEW YORK — New York Mets manager Mickey Callaway has been using some variation of the term “sync up” so often
lately
Austin
Seferian-Jenkins Jersey , he sounds like an early 1990s music critic
discussing Milli Vanilli. At least on Monday the Mets will face another
out-of-sorts team whose fortunes are sinking faster than those of an exposed
one-album wonder.
Two squads enduring a miserable June will meet when the Mets host the Pittsburgh Pirates in the opener of a three-game series at Citi Field. Seth Lugo
(2-2, 2.85 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for New York against Jameson Taillon (4-6,
4.03 ERA) in a battle of right-handers.
Both teams suffered the final loss of a three-game sweep Sunday, when the Mets gave up seven solo homers in falling to the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers,
8-7, in 11 innings and the host Pirates dropped a 3-0 decision to the Arizona
Diamondbacks.
The losses ensured the Mets (31-44) and Pirates (36-41) will enter Monday with the worst June records in the National League. New York is 4-17 since the
calendar flipped while Pittsburgh is 7-14.
The nosedives have all but ended once-robust playoff hopes. The Mets, who opened the season 11-1, are 12 1/2 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves
in the National League East and 10 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in
the race for the second wild card.
The Mets opened June in a historic offensive slump in which they scored just 20 runs in 12 games from June 1-15. New York has scored 47 runs in its last
eight games but has lost three games in which it scored at least seven runs.
“We just can’t sync up exactly what we’re trying to do every day
Niles
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following Thursday’s 6-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.
“If we swing the bats, we give up seven homers,” Callaway said Sunday. “If we pitch and swing the bats good, our defense isn’t quite there. It’s kind of been
the whole season — we’re not syncing up all the components that we need to sync
up to win some ballgames. We did that early in the season.”
The Pirates are uttering the same laments. Through 43 games, Pittsburgh led the NL Central with a 26-17 record and ranked fifth in the majors in runs scored
(216).
Since then, though, the Pirates have gone an NL-worst 10-24 while scoring just 123 runs, the fewest in the NL and the fourth-fewest in the majors.
“At the beginning of the season
Donte
Moncrief Jersey , pitching was clicking, hitting was clicking,” Pirates
pitcher Trevor Williams told reporters after he took the loss Sunday, when he
allowed three runs over six innings. “We’re starting to get apart from each
other and we’re hitting a skid at the same time.”
Lugo will be looking to snap a two-start slump Monday. He didn’t factor into the decision last Wednesday, when he gave up six runs (three earned) over three
innings as the Mets fell to the Rockies, 10-8.
Lugo has given up 11 runs (eight earned) over eight innings in his last two starts after tossing 13 straight scoreless innings in three games (two starts)
from May 31-June 10.
Taillon took the loss last Tuesday, when he allowed three runs over five innings as the Pirates fell to the Milwaukee Brewers, 3-2. He has alternated
wins with losses in four June starts.
Lugo has never faced the Pirates. Taillon is 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two career starts against the Mets. He made both starts consecutively to open his
big league career in 2016 and carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning of the
second start on June 14.
A look at what’s happening around the majors today:
NATIONAL DECLINE
The Nationals could use a spark before the July 4 fireworks go off in D.C. Washington is at risk of falling below .500 for the first time since May 2 as it
continues a series against Boston at 11 a.m. EDT. The Red Sox thumped the
Nationals 11-4 on
Tuesday
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games to fall to 42-42. That slide has the preseason NL East favorites chasing
the Braves and Phillies in the division. Erick Fedde (1-3, 6.00) tries to stop
Washington’s skid against Boston left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez (9-3, 4.11).
THE SHO GOES ON
Shohei Ohtani is back from the disabled list, albeit without full use of his electric right arm. The Japanese two-way sensation has been cleared to hit and
was in the Angels’ lineup as a designated hitter Tuesday night, but he won’t be
pitching anytime soon due to a Grade 2 sprain of his ulnar collateral ligament
suffered more than three weeks ago. Ohtani has received stem cell therapy and a
platelet-rich plasma injection on his right elbow. The Angels say they’ll
re-evaluate Ohtani for pitching in three weeks.
ROTATION RESET
Gerrit Cole (9-2) will pitch on regular rest for the Astros after a slight tweak to their rotation. Lance McCullers Jr. was initially scheduled to start at
Texas, but Cole will pitch instead. Justin Verlander (9-4) will follow Thursday
at home against the White Sox and McCullers goes Friday. Manager A.J. Hinch said
the switch keeps Cole and Verlander pitching every fifth day, and provides extra
rest for McCullers (9-3) and Charlie Morton (10-2). The reset rotation means
likely All-Star selection Verlander is scheduled for the final game before the
break. ”This is always going to be the priority,” said
Hinch
Will
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available to pitch for the AL team on July 17 in Washington D.C.
BAUER POWER
Trevor Bauer tries to carry over an outstanding June when the Indians play at Kansas City. Bauer (7-6, 2.45) was 3-3 with a 2.18 ERA last month, striking out
62 batters in 41 1/3 innings. He gets probably his easiest test of the year
against the Royals, who scored a major league-low 58 runs in June – the
second-lowest output was Tampa Bay at 87.
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