NEW YORK _ Zack Wheeler could not find the strike zone Sunday.
Not with the bases loaded. Not even with the Citi Field faithful starting to turn on him.
The Mets right-hander wasn't able to make it out of the fifth inning in a 12-9 loss to Washington. His slow walk off Citi Field was met with a smattering of boos from an announced crowd of 40,681 fans. They watched him walk seven batters and give up seven earned runs over 4 2/3 innings. Even an eight-run comeback by the Mets offense could salvage the rubber match.
Wheeler's day ended with a free pass to Kurt Suzuki that allowed Howie Kendrick to trot home from third. He had worked himself into trouble and could not get out.
"He understands what made him successful last year," manager Mickey Callaway said before the game. "If he continues to get ahead at an elite rate with that great stuff, he's going to continue to have low pitch counts and be able to throw a lot of innings again this year."
For the Mets to have a bounceback season, they need Wheeler to build on his impressive 2018 season. He pitched to a 3.31 ERA last year and ended on a high note with success in August and September. Perhaps the best news was that Wheeler stayed healthy for 29 starts, after undergoing Tommy John surgery and missing all of 2015 and 2016.
"Getting those innings under his belt was probably the most productive thing as far as when we look into what we need to do this season for Zack," Callaway said. "Coming off a season where you throw that many innings and go that many starts, you don't have to monitor very much."
The recent problem for Wheeler has been one bad inning _ magnified by matchups against one of the Nationals' All-Star pitchers.
Sunday's game unraveled for Wheeler in a five-run second inning, a mix of poor control and bad luck. He loaded the bases with a pair of walks and allowed a soft blooper to Kurt Suzuki. Wheeler got Max Scherzer to hit a chopper to the left side, but the ball found a hole with the infield drawn in. Then the rally continued with a Victor Robles single and Adam Eaton's RBI double.
Wheeler showed flashes of his old self by retiring eight straight batters early on, but the control issues returned in the fifth. He fell behind batters and threw more balls than strikes on the day. Reliever Tim Peterson didn't fare much better, immediately bringing a run in on a wild pitch.
The Mets showed life in the seventh inning as the crowd began to thin out. Brandon Nimmo came off the bench and busted out of a 0-for-10 slump with an RBI double that knocked Scherzer out of the game. The top of the order continued the rally with a Jeff McNeil single followed by a Pete Alonso home run with two men on. It was Alonso's third homer of the season and second in as many days.
Michael Conforto tacked on a three-run shot in the ninth to make the final score respectable.
"Everything is not going to be ideal every single day," Callaway said. "But if we continue to pick each other up, we're going to be the best team we can possibly be."
