Mets pitching staff busted up by Astros in one-sided loss to begin road trip
HOUSTON — As Max Scherzer inched toward return for the Mets more than 1,600 miles away in Binghamton, the replacements struggled to make up the difference in the southwest against one of the best teams in the American League.
Trevor Williams and Chasen Shreve each felt the squeeze of the potent Astros lineup.
The duo gave up seven combined runs across two separate innings as the Mets fell behind quickly in a 8-2 loss to the Astros in front of a boisterous crowd of 35,140 fans on Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park.
The Mets got a glimpse of the type of offensive firepower that it takes to reach three World Series and six league championship series in the past six seasons.
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The Astros' sudden surge began with some familiar names off Williams.
In the bottom of the third inning, Jose Altuve tagged a low sinker over the 21-foot wall in left field for the opening run.
And then Yordan Alvarez continued his scorching month of June as he roped a two-run shot into right field. The Astros designated hitter is now 25-for-57 (.439) with five home runs, 21 RBI and 13 runs in the month of June.
"The first changeup was the ideal one that you want to throw," Williams said. "In that situation, you try not to throw a better one, you try to throw the same exact one. I pulled it a little bit, but he’s a good hitter and you tip your hat to him.
"Along with the character of this team, they hit your mistakes and they did a good job of utilizing that and exposing your mistakes."
Williams dropped to 1-4 on the season with the loss.
Chasen Shreve struggles
The Astros piled it on against lefty Chasen Shreve in the bottom of the fifth. A pair of walks and single from Michael Brantley loaded the bases and Kyle Tucker cleared them with a three-run single into the right-center field gap.
Mauricio Dubon tacked on a RBI single to build the Astros' lead to 7-0.
"I felt like today was the first day that I didn’t pitch well," said Shreve, who gave up four earned runs on three hits and three walks. "I couldn’t locate my fastball, my splitter was fine. They’re a good hitting team and I didn’t have it today."
After his first 10 outings, Shreve pitched to a 1.54 ERA with 17 strikeouts in 11⅔ innings. However, Shreve has now given up 14 earned runs in his last 14 innings as his ERA has swelled to 5.61.
"My splitter’s been very inconsistent," Shreve said. "Sometimes it will be great. In the same outing, some will be great and some will be terrible. It’s been good for me, so I’ve been using (my slider) more."
Both Mets lefty relievers have struggled this season, with Joely Rodriguez giving up 12 earned runs across 21⅓ innings for a 5.06 ERA.
"It's been pretty good for us at times and at times it’s been a challenge for us," Buck Showalter said. "We think there’s better days ahead hopefully."
Empty chances
Meanwhile, the Mets did not come through when the opportunities were there.
The Mets had their chance to get back in the game when they were trailing 3-0 in the top of the fourth inning. They loaded the bases with one out behind back-to-back singles from Pete Alonso and Mark Canha before Luis Guillorme reached on an error.
But Eduardo Escobar and J.D. Davis both struck out against Astros starter Jose Urquidy to end the inning.
"It’s no secret what they do," Showalter said. "They go fastball up and they go curveball and change planes. It’s not something that nobody knows. It shows you how effective if you get the right people, which they have, that follow that."
The lone damage from the Mets came on a pair of solo home runs from Alonso and Escobar in the sixth and seventh innings, respectively.
Alonso's 126th career home run moved him ahead of Lucas Duda for eighth on the Mets' all-time home runs list.
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: Trevor Williams, Chasen Shreve hit hard in NY Mets loss to Astros
