Noah Syndergaard’s performance quickly digressed into a Game of Moans on Saturday at Citi Field.
Here was Syndergaard, pitching in front of a packed house on a night his Game of Thrones bobblehead was distributed, worthy of a visit to the stockade to receive a dozen lashings.
Syndergaard labored early and was pummeled later in the Mets’ third straight loss, 8-6 to the Brewers, in front of 40,610.
The Mets (14-14) fell to .500 for the first time this season and looked discombobulated. That included committing two errors and accumulating three wild pitches and a passed ball. The Brewers also stole three bases.
But none of that was as unsightly as Syndergaard (1-3), who turned in a third straight dismal performance and saw his ERA jump from 5.90 to 6.35. It came a night after ace Jacob deGrom imploded and bumped his ERA to 4.75.
“I’m not pressing the panic button quite just yet,” Syndergaard said after allowing five earned runs over five innings. “I still have every bit of confidence in my ability, and I’m not getting the results I want. Something is not clicking, but I am really just one split-second from turning this all around.”
Though Syndergaard has been partly a victim of bad luck this season, defending his Saturday performance would be difficult. The Brewers put 13 runners on base against the right-hander in five innings, which included two home runs.
“There’s nothing you can point to other than we’re not executing pitches,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “If he executes pitches, he’ll put guys away.
“The only person that can execute is the person that has worked so hard and the person that has listened to people around him for support and the person that has to go stand on the rubber.”
Pete Alonso’s three-run blast in the seventh sliced the Brewers’ lead to 6-5 and brought hope the Mets could complete a wild comeback. But Jeurys Familia surrendered two runs in the eighth and was booed as he left the field. Familia’s most significant gaffe was fielding Christian Yelich’s grounder near the first-base line instead of letting it roll foul. Ben Gamel scored on the play.
Another Mets miscue occurred before Alonso’s homer in the seventh: Travis d’Arnaud hit a shot into the left-field corner and was thrown out attempting to reach second with the Mets behind by four runs. Amed Rosario had homered earlier in the inning.
In the eighth, Rosario stroked an RBI single that brought the Mets within 8-6 and put the tying runs on base. But lefty fireballer Josh Hader entered and struck out Todd Frazier, Wilson Ramos and Jeff McNeil in succession to crush that rally. Hader then worked a perfect ninth.
Syndergaard’s night disintegrated in the fourth, when he allowed two homers to sink the Mets into a 5-1 hole. Gamel and Yelich each hit a solo homer in an inning Syndergaard received something of a reprieve when Lorenzo Cain was thrown out by d’Arnaud attempting to steal second.
“Right now it just feels like I don’t have trust in my slider and my curveball,” Syndergaard said. “Every time I get a new baseball out there, it feels like I am holding an ice cube. Every baseball I get feels as slick as can be. I have zero grip on the ball.”
McNeil’s rambunctiousness at third base may have contributed to the Mets stealing a run in the third inning. With the Brewers shifting against Michael Conforto, McNeil danced halfway down the third-base line. Brandon Woodruff unleashed a wild pitch that allowed McNeil to score.
The Brewers received a gift in the first inning, when Alonso’s throwing error allowed Cain to score from second. Cain had rounded second on Mike Moustakas’ ground out and Alonso attempted to throw behind him, to left fielder McNeil who had sneaked in behind the runner. But Alonso’s throw sailed into left-center, giving Cain plenty of time to race home.
“I was just trying to make a baseball play,” Alonso said. “If I would have made a better throw we probably would have gotten him.”