BAD-MOOD-A TRIANGLE: A bloop hit falls between a diving Juan Lagares, Omar Quintanilla (middle) and Eric Young Jr. in the Mets’ embarrassing 14-1 loss to the Nationals yesterday in Washington. (
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WASHINGTON — The Mets needed Carlos Torres yesterday, but instead got Carlos Danger, complete with an early climax.
Wilson Ramos’ third-inning grand slam against the right-hander all but ensured the Mets of a brutal finish to their weekend in the shadow of the Capitol. Torres was knocked out after allowing eight runs on nine hits in three innings, and the Mets never approached recovery in a 14-1 loss to the Nationals.
There were no redeeming qualities to this one for the Mets (46-56), who dropped their third straight and lost a second consecutive road series. Next stop is Miami for a four-game series against a last-place Marlins team that has beaten the Mets in eight of 11 games this season.
The Mets scored one run in each of the final three games against the Nationals.
“It’s kind of a constant thing that we’ve fought a lot of the year is the lack of run production,” manager Terry Collins said. “But we’ve been winning games because we’ve pitched and it allowed us to get chances. When you get way behind, you can’t be very aggressive on the bases and it kind of changes the way you play.”
Torres, who joined the rotation just before the All-Star break, was solid in his first two starts, but got buried in a hurry yesterday. After Ramos knocked in a run with a single in the second, Bryce Harper’s two-run single gave the Nationals a 3-0 lead. In the third, the Nationals got four hits and a walk against Torres, highlighted by Ramos’ first career grand slam.
But Torres said he was more a victim of bad luck than just awful.
“It’s just one of these games where all these balls are dropping in, getting by people, it definitely gets frustrating,” Torres said. “As a pitcher you’ve got to hit your spots, pound your zone and you can’t worry about those things, because you can’t control those.”
The Mets are counting on the 30-year-old Torres to hold a spot in their six-man rotation until Jon Niese can return from a a minor league rehab assignment, perhaps in the next two weeks.
“Today was one of those games where it was unfortunate because we also had to use a lot of the bullpen,” Torres said. “That’s why I need to step up and eat up more innings if a situation like that arises again, because we still need to get into the next couple of games, the next series, with a fresher bullpen than we got today.”
Gonzalez Germen and David Aardsma were pounded for five earned runs over three innings before Josh Edgin and Bobby Parnell finished it. Parnell surrendered an unearned run in the eighth. Ian Desmond and Denard Span each finished with four hits to torment the Mets.
Marlon Byrd’s RBI single in the fourth accounted for the Mets’ only scoring against Taylor Jordan (1-3), who allowed five hits over six innings.
Collins said the Mets’ 2-1 loss in the nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader on Ryan Zimmerman’s walkoff homer against LaTroy Hawkins set the tone for the series. The Mets had won the first game 11-0.
“We go right back to the first night, that second game, we certainly had every reason to win that game,” Collins said. “It probably took the starch out of this whole series, but we’ve got to pick it up and get into Miami and play better and certainly pitch better than we did today.”