Chris Sale nearly seals complete game shutout as Mets’ starting pitching unravels

ATLANTA — The best pitching staff in baseball is suddenly in trouble.

After losing two starters to injuries within less than a week, the Mets turned to right-hander Paul Blackburn on Wednesday night against the Atlanta Braves. The results weren’t great in a 5-0 loss at Truist Park, but the blame doesn’t lie solely on Blackburn.

The loss extended their losing streak to a season-high five games and cost them a series win over a key divisional opponent. They weren’t exactly sloppy, but they also weren’t sharp. Still, there is no panic yet.

“We’ve had a sense of urgency since spring training,” said shortstop Francisco Lindor. “This is not like, ‘Oh, we’re losing. We’ve got to kick it up a notch.’ No, we’ve been doing that since spring training. Everybody understands the ultimate goal here, and it’s a standard.”

Left-hander Chris Sale, the 2024 NL Cy Young Award winner came one out shy of tossing a complete game shutout. The Braves crowd booed as manager Brian Snitker came out to get his pitcher after a single by Brandon Nimmo with two outs in the ninth, bringing in closer Raisel Iglesias. Sale (5-4) scattered five hits, all singles, and walked one, limiting hard contact and striking out seven.

He pitched like a Cy Young Award winner, using mostly a slider and a four-seam fastball to get into optimal counts, and a hard sinker to get outs on the ground. The Mets had an especially tough time with his slider.

“He used that pitch to not only get ahead, [but to] get chases, get back in counts,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “On top of that, when he’s throwing from 96-97 from that angle, that’s what makes him who he is.”

Starling Marte managed two hits, Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil each managed one. Sale was extremely efficient with his pitches, something the Mets couldn’t say themselves.

“He executed,” said Lindor. “Hats off to him. He was really, really good.”

Ronald Acuña Jr. teed off on the first pitch he saw from Blackburn in the bottom of the first. Blackburn then put the next two on base, with a ground-ball out advancing them to second and third.

Alex Verdugo, the runner on third, scored when catcher Luis Torrens failed to block a ball in the dirt and tried to field it using his mask. Home plate umpire Edwin Jimenez immediately ruled it an error, sending Verdugo home and Austin Riley to third, where he was able to score on Marcell Ozuna’s fly ball to center field.

Torrens knew immediately he had made a mistake by touching the ball with his equipment, which is against the rules.

“That was a mental mistake,” Mendoza said. “He knows the rule, he knows that he can’t do it. Just a mental error there.”

The Mets were down 3-0 early, and the Braves (33-39) tacked on another run in the fourth after Blackburn exited. Jose Butto couldn’t hold the inherited runner on with two outs, scoring one on a wild pitch. The Mets only had him for 75 pitches, and while he’d like to throw 100, the club wants to keep him at the 75-85 range while he’s playing a swingman role.

After making a start earlier this month against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Blackburn then pitched out of the bullpen, which is where the struggles began. He was charged with four runs (three earned) on four hits, walked two and struck out two over only 3 2/3 innings in the loss (0-1).

“First pitch of the game, Acuña gets him,” Mendoza said. “And then I felt like he got away — especially in the first inning — from his cutter, which is one of his better pitches, right? They got him there.”

Since shutting out the Dodgers over five innings, Blackburn has allowed 10 earned runs over his last three games (8.0 innings).

“I feel like early on, I was kind of fighting myself out there a little bit,” Blackburn said. “As the game went on, I feel like I kind of got into a good rhythm. Started to get a good feel for my pitches back. But it’s tough to go out there and kind of give them a three-spot to start there, especially when you know the other guy on the mound is pretty good.”

To make matters worse, Frankie Montas gave up five hits in his final rehab start, taking the third loss of his minor league assignment. The right-hander, who has been out since spring training with a lat strain, has a 13.19 ERA in six rehab games, and his clock is about to run out. The window on his assignment is up Saturday, and the Mets will then have 48 hours to activate him.

The Mets (45-29) raced to the top of the NL East standings largely because of pitching. Yet its’ been pitching that has largely doomed them over the last five games.

“We’ve kind of run into a rut here the last week,” Blackburn said. “Mindset-wise, I feel like guys are exactly the same as being here when we’re winning every single day. So I think the biggest thing is just kind of keeping on that track. Don’t get too high, don’t get too low, just keep pushing forward.”