After day of reckoning, Mets fall to Brewers
First base umpire Ron Kulpa throws out Mets manager Buck Showalter during the eighth inning against the Brewers at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets on Wednesday were hoping to build off an impressive victory over Milwaukee from Tuesday night.
Owner Steve Cohen, in a rare pregame news conference, said: “We played great [Tuesday] night. That was a crisp game. Probably one of the best games we’ve played all year. And so we know it’s possible, right?”
The Mets did not follow up Cohen’s praise with another “best game.” They went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position, Buck Showalter got ejected after a highly questionable call, and the Mets lost to Milwaukee, 5-2, before 28,440 at Citi Field.
Showalter was tossed (for the second time in four games) by first-base umpire Ron Kulpa in the top of the eighth after a two-out, two-run single by Christian Yelich gave the Brewers importance insurance runs. But it wasn’t the single that earned Showalter’s ire.
The batter before, Joey Wiemer, had been hit by an Adam Ottavino pitch to load the bases. But Wiemer appeared to swing, which would have negated the hit by pitch.
“Pretty obvious he did,” Showalter said. “Surprised two guys missed it.”
Plate umpire Carlos Torres ruled it a hit by pitch, however, and crew chief Kulpa did not rule from first base that Wiemer had swung. Checked swings are not reviewable under instant replay.
“I know he swung,” Ottavino said. “I’m just going to assume [Kulpa] wasn’t watching. He can make that call. I don’t know what happened there.”
But, Ottavino added: “Good teams overcome stuff. We’re not overcoming stuff.”
The Brewers had taken a 3-2 lead in the sixth on Blake Perkins’ RBI single off rookie Grant Hartwig (0-1), who replaced Kodai Senga to start the inning. It took Senga 102 pitches to get through five.
The Mets, after falling behind 2-0 in the first on Jesse Winker’s two-run double off Senga, tied the game on Tommy Pham’s 404-foot solo homer off facing of the second deck in left against lefthander Wade Miley in the second and a no-outs, bases-loaded walk to Francisco Alvarez in the fourth.
But Miley recovered to strike out Brett Baty and got Mark Canha to ground into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play. Just list that, a golden opportunity squandered, which is something the Mets did not do when they hit four home runs in Tuesday’s 7-2 victory.
“You’ve got to do a better job,” Showalter said. “Mark hit a ball right on the button that they turned into a double play . . But we’ve got to do a better job when we get a well-pitched game, score some runs.”
Senga’s second start on normal rest went much better than his first.
In his first start on four days’ rest, on June 4 vs. Toronto, Senga lasted just 2 2/3 innings and gave up four runs (three earned) in a 6-4 Mets defeat. In Japan, Senga started once a week, as all starters do in that country.
The Brewers made Senga work – he threw 71 pitches in the first three innings – but he got out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the third by striking out Brian Anderson.
Senga, who allowed two runs, five hits, walked two, hit a batter and struck out eight, picked up his 100th strikeout when he caught Wiemer looking for the second out of the fourth.
Senga’s start was in line with much of his 2023 work in his first Mets season. He pitches effectively (3.53 overall ERA), but he doesn’t get deep into games because he doesn’t always find the strike zone (59 strikes, 43 balls).
Mound matters
David Peterson, who threw six shutout innings in his return from Triple-A Syracuse on Tuesday, has earned another start. Showalter said Peterson will face the Giants on Sunday night . . . Jose Quintana will make his final minor-league rehab start on Friday for Syracuse. Cohen made the announcement that Quintana will make his Mets debut “next week” if all goes well. Quintana has been out since breaking a rib in spring training.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
