ATLANTA – It was an all too familiar sight, even though it felt like one that belonged to a different timeline.
The Mets offense was quiet, their defense suspect, and Atlanta feasted on a fill-in starter while ace Chris Sale came one out shy of a complete game, all to the tune of a 5-0 loss Wednesday at a muggy Truist Park; they’ve now dropped a season-high five in a row.
It’s a time-worn dance performed by these two rivals. Though this year, by nature of the Mets’ 45-29 record and Atlanta’s deep underperformance, it seemed like things would be different. Instead, the Mets go into Thursday trying to avert their second sweep in a row after not getting swept through the first 22 series they played this year.
Questions also continue to swirl about the state of their injury-battered rotation, and suddenly, that chokehold they have on the National League East doesn’t seem quite so secure, with the surging Phillies having won six of their last seven and now one game back in the standings.
Sale held the Mets to five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts and allowed just one runner to reach scoring position, and that was in the first inning after Starling Marte hit an infield single and advanced on a groundout. Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Brandon Nimmo went 1-for-15 with a walk and six strikeouts. Sale was lifted for Raisel Iglesias after Nimmo’s two out single in the ninth; he’d thrown 116 pitches.
Meanwhile, Paul Blackburn, filling in for an injured Kodai Senga, allowed four runs, three earned, on four hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 3 2/3 innings. The Mets used four relievers in the second game of a 13-game stretch.
Blackburn got touched up early, giving up a first-pitch, 419-foot leadoff bomb to Ronald Acuna Jr. in the first. Alex Verdugo singled and Austin Riley walked, with both advancing into scoring position when Matt Olson hit a grounder to first that was stopped by a diving Pete Alonso. Blackburn’s curveball to Marcell Ozuna bounced a ball in front of the plate and Luis Torrens illegally used his mask to corral it – a rare catcher’s balk that forced the lead runner home. Ozuna then skied a sacrifice fly to center to give Atlanta a 3-0 lead.
Blackburn only made it into the fourth inning: He allowed a one-out double to Ozzie Albies and got Michael Harris II to ground out before getting pulled for Jose Butto. Butto, though, sailed a wild pitch far past Torrens’ glove to allow Albies to score from third.
Ty Adcock let up a solo homer to Olson in the seventh to make it 5-0.
It was the fifth time they’ve been shut out this season.
What’s more, the Mets play NL East rivals Atlanta and the Phillies eight more times in this 13-game span. They do it after losing Senga to a hamstring injury last week, Tylor Megill to an elbow sprain this week, and as Frankie Montas continues to flounder in his rehab outings. They’ll also need a spot starter Friday to go up against probable pitcher Zach Wheeler in Philadelphia.
Wednesday, in what presumably is his final rehab outing, Montas allowed five runs on seven hits with a walk and two strikeouts over five innings, and threw 80 pitches, 47 for strikes. In six minor-league outings since returning from a lat injury, he compiled a 13.19 ERA, leading manager Carlos Mendoza to question whether the righthander would be activated when his rehab clock expires on June 22. After that, they’ll have 48 hours to add Montas, who signed a two-year, $34 million this offseason. There’s also an option to slot him into the bullpen.
“We’ll see how he feels after today’s outing…then we’ll have a decision” on whether to activate him, Mendoza said before the game. “First, he’s got to be 100% healthy, which, knock on wood, he keeps saying he’s fine.”
Notes and Quotes. Mark Vientos (hamstring) was the DH and went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in a rehab appearance with Triple-A Syracuse Tuesday. He was off Wednesday and will play third on Thursday…Brooks Raley pitched for the first time since going down with Tommy John surgery Tuesday, allowing one hit with two strikeouts in a scoreless inning with Single-A Port St. Lucie, but president of baseball operations David Stearns said last week that his rehab will be a lengthy one…Brett Baty was kept out of the starting lineup for the second game in a row after exiting with a groin injury Sunday.
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.