NEW YORK _ For the third straight night, a Mets starter didn't make it beyond the second inning without giving up at least three runs. On Friday, at least, their starter pitched into the third inning, but only because the Mets, through their decisions alone, declared they're no longer pursuing a playoff berth.
The Mets made two misguided decisions that led to their 15-2 blowout loss to the Braves on Friday night at Citi Field. Misguided decision No. 1 was their collective belief that Steven Matz had corrected his command issues enough to give him a start against the Braves. Misguided decision No. 2 was keeping Matz in the game until the third inning.
Matz's first start in over a month went somehow worse than the outing that caused the Mets to demote him to the bullpen. The 29-year-old displayed all the physical signs of a start gone wrong: slumped shoulders, angry glove slaps, head down after giving up base hits. When Matz's start mercifully ended, he'd surrendered six runs on eight hits with three walks and five strikeouts over 2 2/3 innings and 76 pitches. His season ERA leaped to 9.79.
The Mets (23-28) dropped to five games under .500 and will likely have to win all of their nine remaining games to potentially grab a wild-card spot. They play the Braves through the weekend, then host the Rays for a three-game series that wraps up their final homestand, before ending the year against the Nationals in the nation's capital.
It was clear by the first inning Matz hadn't improved since his last crack at the rotation. The southpaw opened the game by giving up four straight hits _ a double and three singles _ to put the Mets in a 1-0 hole. Matz, in one way or another, escaped the first by surrendering just that one run, which encouraged manager Luis Rojas to throw him out there for the second inning.
But Matz again sputtered. By the end of the second inning, the left-hander had faced 15 batters and retired only five of them. He'd allowed seven hits, two walks and a home run on 63 pitches. This was the time to take Matz out of the game. Right-hander Franklyn Kilome was up and down in the bullpen as early as the first inning. Instead of using Kilome in the third, on a clean frame, Rojas again put Matz on the mound.
That is precisely when the season unofficially ended for the Mets.
Matz opened the third by coughing up a leadoff home run to Austin Riley. His first start since Aug. 15 and only appearance this month put the Mets in a 6-0 crater. Kilome finally relieved Matz with two outs in the third, but he wasn't remotely better than his predecessor against the hard-hitting Braves. Kilome conceded six runs on three hits in 1 1/3 innings to effectively remove the Mets from any chance at a resurgence.
Wistfully, players were still clapping and cheering for their teammates as Jake Marisnick drew a two-out walk in the sixth inning _ when the Mets were down by 13 runs. The 2020 Mets are an energetic bunch with the previous year's never-say-die attitude showing up in their comeback efforts this week. But the lineup was placed in a hole before the leadoff batter even approached the dish Friday. The come-from-behind rallies they'd produced Wednesday and Thursday night were impressive, but they were small potatoes compared to the 12-0 deficit they stared down in the fourth inning.
