ATLANTA — The Mets received a 13-1 Atlanta thrashing on Monday night in a game that featured DH/first baseman Darin Ruf pitching two scoreless innings, included a nearly hourlong rain delay and did not end until 11:33 p.m. And that might not have even been the worst part of their night.
Carlos Carrasco exited after two innings and 51 pitches because of tightness in his left side, an ambiguous threat to a rotation that has been the Mets’ strength of late. The severity of the issue was not immediately clear.
He grabbed at the area after completing the bottom of the second, during which he threw 27 pitches, sat through the 55-minute delay as storms passed through the aera and returned to finish the frame on five more pitches.
The possible injury was an unfortunate development for Carrasco, who has enjoyed a big-time bounce-back season as a 35-year-old. He had been particularly effective since the start of July, too, posting a 1.69 ERA with nearly four strikeouts for every walk in eight starts.
Carrasco was lined up to start one of two games against the Phillies on Saturday. If he can’t go, the next pitcher up probably would be righthander Trevor Williams (with lefthander David Peterson already scheduled to be promoted from the minors to take the other game).
The first sign that this would not be Carrasco’s night came in the first inning, when Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley each rocketed line drives, though Atlanta did not score.
He wasn’t as lucky in the second inning, when William Contreras and Eddie Rosario hit back-to-back home runs. Ronald Acuna Jr. added what officially was an RBI double but what really was a routine fly ball that leftfielder Mark Canha lost in the funky-lit sky, moments before the deluge began.
Atlanta blew the game open with eight runs in the sixth off Adonis Medina and Mychal Givens. Seven consecutive batters reached to open the inning before Givens finally recorded an out. Ex-Met Travis d’Arnaud punctuated the rally with a three-run home run. Acuna and Swanson each had three RBIs.
A week after complaining that the Mets had “a lot of luck” in reaching him for four runs and six hits in 2 2/3 innings at Citi Field, rookie flamethrower Spencer Strider was much better this time. He gave up one run and three hits — two that didn’t leave the infield — across five innings. He gutted it out for 87 pitches, a high total considering he went 77 minutes between ending the top of the second and beginning the top of the third.
Ruf actually got through his pair of innings on just 14 pitches, the second pitching appearance of his career. It was the first time this year that the Mets used a position player on the mound.
