DETROIT — If you had a million guesses, you would not have predicted the lineup Terry Collins sent out to face Tigers lefthander Matt Boyd at Comerica Park on Saturday night.
It certainly wouldn’t have seemed possible on Opening Day.
Ty Kelly batting second and playing left. Jay Bruce batting cleanup. Kelly Johnson and Matt Reynolds as the left side of the infield. Rene Rivera as the designated hitter.
That’s five players who were not on the roster when the Mets — fresh off a World Series appearance that seems as if it happened a lifetime ago — began the season April 3 in Kansas City.
Funny thing is, the lineup wasn’t the main problem Saturday night, although the Mets did go 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position. They fell into an early five-run hole because Logan Verrett couldn’t get out of the fourth inning and lost to the Tigers, 6-5, before a sellout crowd of 41,053.
The game ended when Tigers rightfielder J.D. Martinez threw out Bruce at the plate on Travis d’Arnaud’s single against Francisco Rodriguez. Bruce and Alejandro De Aza had singled with two outs. Collins did not challenge the call at the plate.
Verrett (3-7), remember, is in the rotation because of Opening Day starter Matt Harvey’s season-ending surgery. Zack Wheeler isn’t coming to the rescue anytime soon, given that he threw his very first rehab inning Saturday night.
Since going 15-7 in April, the Mets are 41-47. They have lost two in a row and have not won consecutive games since July 6-7. They appear to be hopelessly lost in the NL East race and would have to jump over three teams for the final wild-card spot.
Collins sent out the team he thought had the best chance to beat Boyd (3-2), who allowed three runs in five innings.
The problem for the Mets was that they fell behind 6-1. Verrett, who was charged with six runs in 3 2⁄3 innings, was replaced by Jon Niese. That could be what happens in the rotation, too.
Niese allowed two inherited runners to score before throwing 2 1⁄3 scoreless innings. The Mets tried to rally, but their comeback attempt fell short as their season-long troubles with RISP continued. They are 2-for-17 in the first two games of this series.
Verrett’s troubles began when he walked No. 2 hitter Tyler Collins in the first. Miguel Cabrera followed with an RBI double to give Detroit a 1-0 lead.
Bruce, who popped out to second with runners on first and third and one out in the first, hit his second home run as a Met to tie the score leading off the fourth.
Verrett, though, came undone in the bottom of the inning. After Victor Martinez led off with a double and moved to third on a single by J.D. Martinez, Verrett hit Nick Castellanos in the left hand with a pitch to load the bases. Castellanos eventually left the game with a fractured hand.
Justin Upton popped to short for the first out, but Jarrod Saltalamacchia followed with a two-run single past diving first baseman Wilmer Flores to give the Tigers a 3-1 lead.
Ian Kinsler ended Verrett’s night with an RBI single to left. Niese, whom the Mets reacquired from Pittsburgh at Monday’s trade deadline, gave up an infield single to Collins to reload the bases before Cabrera drove in a pair with a single to right to make it 6-1.
The Mets made it 6-3 in the fifth on Curtis Granderson’s solo home run and Flores’ two-out RBI single. They pulled to within a run in the seventh thanks to a throwing error by Cabrera and an error by Castellanos’ replacement at third base, Mike Aviles.
..... - Newsday