francisco lindor mets
Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The Mets hadn’t been on the West Coast since the middle of June, and for the most part, it seemed like they enjoyed their time by the Bay playing the Athletics. With the Braves still hot on New York’s tail, nabbing all three games from a last-place Oakland team was the preferred result.

New York took two out of three, and all games ended up being blowouts. The Mets had lengthened their NL East lead after a Game 1 win, but then it immediately shrunk again following a loss in Game 2.

Atlanta came back to beat the Phillies on Sunday, so it was huge that the Amazins won the finale to keep their divisional lead at 1.5 games. Let’s get to the details.

So, what happened?

Game 1

  • Mets 9, Athletics 2
    • Winning pitcher: Chris Bassitt
    • Losing pitcher: Cole Irvin
    • Home runs hit: Eduardo Escobar, Dermis Garcia

Game 2

  • Athletics 10, Mets 4
    • Winning pitcher: Ken Waldichuk
    • Losing pitcher: Jacob deGrom
    • Home runs hit: Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos, Seth Brown, Conner Capel

Game 3

  • Mets 13, Athletics 4
    • Winning pitcher: Max Scherzer
    • Losing pitcher: JP Sears
    • Home runs hit: Pete Alonso, Seth Brown, Conner Capel

Mets players who thrived

Facing his old team, Chris Bassitt went eight innings for the third time this season. It was the first time he did that since August 8th against the Reds. In 77 innings since the All-Star break, the righty owns a 2.57 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP. Max Scherzer’s second start off the injured list went similar to his first. His line wasn’t perfect like it was in Milwaukee, but he struck out seven over six dominant innings.

With 26 runs scored over three games, there were a number of Mets hitters who excelled. Five different players posted a wRC+ better than 123 in this series (Alonso, Jeff McNeil, Mark Canha, Francisco Lindor, Eduardo Escobar). None enjoyed themselves more than the Polar Bear, though.

He racked up two homers, seven RBI, and six runs scored while slashing .500/.571/1.167 in 14 plate appearances. That sussed out to a 371 wRC+. Alonso finished New York’s six-game road trip with four dingers, 13 RBI, and a 259 wRC+.

Mets players who struggled

Jacob deGrom is human after all, folks. The five runs he allowed were the most he’s given up in a start since April 26th, 2019. He clearly didn’t have his good command, either. Entering Saturday, deGrom walked just four hitters through 54.1 innings. He equaled that total in just four innings on Saturday.

Joely Rodriguez, Trevor May, and Seth Lugo combined for 2.2 innings in this series and surrendered six total runs in the process.

At the plate, James McCann posted another hit-less performance in four plate appearances. Darin Ruf has continued his tough time with the Mets, as he collected just two singles in 14 plate appearances. He’s now slashing .152/.216/.197 in 74 plate appearances since New York acquired him at the trade deadline.

Athletics players who gave New York a hard time

Among the six Athletics hitters to accumulate at least 12 trips to the plate, three of them posted a wRC+ greater than 200: Sean Murphy, Conner Capel, and Seth Brown. They combined to accumulate 1.2 fWAR, along with slugging four homers with 11 RBI and 10 runs scored.

The only Oakland pitcher to post a positive fWAR against the Mets was JP Sears. He came away with 0.1 fWAR through 3.2 innings. He allowed six runs on eight hits during his outing but did have a 3.66 FIP despite that.

Miscellaneous Mets notes

Escobar hit his first career grand slam in Game 1 of this series. He joins Canha and Alonso as other Mets hitters to accomplish that feat for the first time this season.

We won’t be hearing Keith Hernandez talking about fundies on the SNY broadcast for the remainder of the regular season after he took a tumble and tore a tendon in his shoulder. We wish Keith a speedy recovery and a very limited stay on the injured list.

DeGrom’s start was something we hadn’t seen from him in a while. It’s also a game we haven’t seen from the Mets’ pitching staff in a while. This was the first time New York allowed double-digit runs in a game since August 15th. That was a 13-1 loss to Atlanta, because of course it was.

With hits in each of his three games in Oakland, Lindor is now riding an 11-game hit streak as the Mets travel back home to Citi Field.

Starling Marte, who is working back from a fractured middle finger, is getting closer to a return. A recent CT scan showed improved healing, and the outfielder can continue baseball activities as much as he can tolerate them.

The Mets’ victory on Sunday was their 18th such win in a rubber game this season, which is a new club record. This was also New York’s 97th win of the year, which ties the team’s most wins in a single campaign since 2006.

What’s next on the schedule?

The Mets are off on Monday as they travel back to the East Coast. They’ll make a quick stop at Citi Field for two contests against the Marlins before facing the Braves in a pivotal three-game set in Atlanta at Truist Park.

Here’s how what the probable starters look like on Tuesday and Wednesday in Queens:

  • Marlins @ Mets, 7:10pm EST
    • TV: SNY, Radio: WCBS 880
    • Probable starters: Pablo Lopez (9-10, 3.88 ERA) vs. Carlos Carrasco (15-6, 3.79)
  • Marlins @ Mets, 7:10pm EST
    • TV: SNY, Radio: WCBS 880
    • Probable starters: Jesus Luzardo (3-7, 3.57) vs. Taijuan Walker (12-5, 3.53)

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Matt Musico can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.