Four reasons why the Mets fell to Padres after injuries to Pete Alonso, Starling Marte
The Mets must have been glad to see Tuesday night's nightmare come to an end.
After both Pete Alonso and Starling Marte had to exit with injuries in the second inning, the Mets offense sputtered and the Padres cashed in on their opportunities at the plate.
The Mets saw their three-game win streak come to an end as they fell, 7-0, to the Padres in the second game of the teams' three-game series on Tuesday night at Petco Park.
Here is what went wrong for the Mets as they were shut out for the for the second time during their West Coast trip:
One bad inning
The Mets fell into an early hole that they could not overcome.
Taijuan Walker gave up a leadoff solo home run to Jurickson Profar but really struggled in the second inning.
In the second frame, Eric Hosmer and Nomar Mazara knocked back-to-back singles to set up Trent Grisham for an RBI single into right field. The big blow came as Jake Cronenworth ripped a two-out single up the middle to plate two runs and give the Padres a 4-0 lead.
Walker settled in and notched back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the third and fourth innings. He worked around a leadoff walk and fielding error by Jeff McNeil in the fifth before one more perfect inning in the sixth.
But the deficit proved too much as Walker dropped to 3-2 and his ERA ticked up to 3.28. The four earned runs were the most Walker has given up since he allowed six earned runs to the Phillies in his first start following an early-season injury on May 5.
Held in check
With a six-pitch arsenal featuring four pitches (fastball, cutter, sinker and splitter) that eclipsed the 90 mph mark, Yu Darvish kept the Mets offense on its toes all game long.
Despite hitting three batters in the first two innings, Darvish worked through the first five innings without giving up a hit.
The Mets struck out six times in the first seven innings against Darvish.
The first hit of the game came from Mark Canha, who replaced Starling Marte in the second inning, as he reached down to bloop a single off Darvish's curveball with two outs in the sixth inning to break up the no-hit bid.
The Mets' only other hit came on a double from Eduardo Escobar in the seventh inning.
After going 53 games before their first shutout, the Mets were held scoreless for the second time this road trip on Tuesday night.
Out of control
Since joining the Mets on May 15 from Class AAA Syracuse, Colin Holderman had been one of the pleasant surprises out of the bullpen.
The 26-year-old right-hander only allowed one earned run in his first 11 innings. However, he had his worst outing of his young career on Tuesday night.
Holderman could not find the strike zone in the seventh inning, throwing just one strike in his first 13 pitches as he walked Austin Nola, Jurickson Profar and Jake Cronenworth to load the bases.
Buck Showalter left Holderman in the game as Chasen Shreve warmed up, and Manny Machado hit a two-run single up the middle before Luke Voit added a sacrifice fly to build the Padres' advantage to 7-0.
Falling stars
The Mets suffered a gut punch only two innings into the game.
In the first at-bat of the second inning, Pete Alonso was hit in the right hand by a 95 mph sinker from Yu Darvish and exited the game. Starling Marte was pulled before the bottom of the second inning after he tweaked the quad in his left leg after sliding into second on a steal attempt in the first.
According to SNY, X-rays on Alonso's hand were negative and he will undergo further imaging, while Marte was dealing with left quad tightness and will have testing.
The Mets never seemed to get their bearings after those two stars exited.
Andrew Tredinnick is the Mets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to all Mets analysis, news, trades and more, please subscribe today and download our app.
Email: atredinnick@gannett.com Twitter: @andrew_tred
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets fall to Padres after injuries to Pete Alonso, Starling Marte
