WASHINGTON _ Mets pitcher Zack Wheeler was one of the best pitchers in baseball after the All-Star break last season. On Sunday, in his first outing of 2019, he was not.
Wheeler struggled through five innings, giving up six hits and four runs in a 6-5 loss to the Nationals. The Mets nearly got the job done anyway, rallying in the eighth inning from three runs down to tie the game. But reliever Justin Wilson gave up a solo home run to Trea Turner in the bottom of the ninth to give the Nationals a walk-off victory.
It wasn't all bad for the Mets (2-1), who head to Miami after taking the season-opening three-game series off the Nationals.
Rookie sensation Pete Alonso cranked another prodigious RBI double on Sunday, one-hopping a ball off the left-field wall in the third inning to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.
But the Mets have high expectations for Wheeler, and this was a frustrating way to start the season. And a frustrating way to end the game. Turner, who also hit an impressive, three-run homer off of Wheeler in the third inning, hit a ball that just got over the left-field wall to win the game.
It was Wilson's first loss as a Met. His one-out, full-count fastball wasn't a bad pitch. But Turner turned on it for his second homer of the day.
The Mets likely wouldn't have been in this position had Wheeler pitched to his usual standards. The 28-year-old appears to finally be healthy after missing two full seasons (2015, 2016) with Tommy John surgery and most of another season (2017) with other injuries. He was a force in his final 12 starts last season, going 10-1 with a 1.96 ERA.
But he didn't get those kind of results on a blustery day at Nationals Park. His pitch count ballooned early, he made a critical mistake at the wrong time, and the Mets were never able to get back into the game.
The decisive sequence came in the third inning, where in the span of a few minutes, Wheeler let the game slip away. He have up a lead-off double to Victor Robles and a base hit to Adam Eaton. Then, he threw a first-pitch fastball to Turner that caught too much of the plate. Turner demolished the pitch, sending it deep into the left-field stands.
Three hard hit-balls in three batters. Three quick runs. And suddenly, the Mets were down 3-1 and facing their first deficit of the season.
Wheeler calmed down quickly, retiring seven straight batters after allowing the game-changing home run. But he allowed another run in the fifth inning, surrendering singles to Adam Eaton and Anthony Rendon and allowing a stolen base.
He left the game with 95 pitches thrown. It was only the second time in his last 11 starts that he lasted fewer than six innings, and only the second time that he allowed more than three runs. Wheeler's bad day is not a reason to panic. It was really only a bad few minutes.
Aside from the three hard-hit balls in the third inning, Wheeler kept the Nationals' bats in check. He struck out seven and walked only one. But the mistakes were costly and it's clear that Wheeler has a little work to do to recapture last-year's late-season mastery.
But even with Wheeler's bad day, the Mets nearly found a way to win. Trailing 5-2 in the eighth, they stormed back and tied the game.
Robinson Cano and Michael Conforto started the rally with singles. Amed Rosario and pinch hitter Wilson Ramos kept it going with RBI singles. And Juan Lagares tied the game at 5 with an RBI single over the head of the shortstop.
But it was all for naught when Turner smacked his second home run in the bottom of the ninth.
