After he surrendered a two-run homer to Adam LaRoche, a massive shot to right that would have impressed Babe Ruth — heck, it would have impressed Godzilla — Dillon Gee settled down for the Mets. Fifteen Nationals came up, 15 went down consecutively. He was perfect in the third through sixth innings.
“He set down a pretty good lineup for a long time,” Mets manager Terry Collins said. “We’re excited. I think Dillon is going to have a huge year.”
Gee was not nearly as enthusiastic.
“It feels good to get on a roll like that,” said Gee, the 23rd different Opening Day starter in Mets history. “But I didn’t get it done, so that streak means nothing.”
Gee, who was Collins’ starting choice after Jonathon Niese became a disabled-list entry, didn’t get it done because he couldn’t get a third out in the seventh. Blending in breaking pitches off a good lively fastball, Gee survived the LaRoche moon shot and went into the seventh. He got his fifth and final strikeout, saw the streak end on a Bryce Harper single and was looking good a force out later.
“It was pretty special. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t really nervous leading up to the game,” Gee said. “For the most part, I felt pretty good. But I let them come back in the game. It starts with me. They gave me some runs off a really tough pitcher. The walks kind of hurt me.”
Not to mention the bullpen. But Gee, staked to a 3-0 first inning lead by Andrew Brown’s homer off Stephen Strasburg, walked LaRoche to make it first and second in the seventh. Then came his final batter — Anthony Rendon, who went the opposite way down the right-field line for an RBI double.
“I got behind [two balls, one strike]. The ball he hit wasn’t terrible, but it’s tough to make pitches when you’re behind,” Gee said.
Gee departed up, 4-3, but everybody in the bullpen not named Jose Valverde stunk. So Gee became a footnote in the 10-inning, 9-7 loss Monday.
“Dillon pitched very well,” Collins said. “We’re coming to expect it. It was quite obvious he was running out of gas. He was getting the ball up, having a tough time getting it down, but he pitched an outstanding game. I thought in the second half last year, Dillon Gee was as good a pitcher as there was in the National League.”
Again, nice praise, but for Gee this was a “what have you done for me lately” proposition. His only dispute with Collins was he felt fine after his 100 pitches — that and he just didn’t close out.
“People are going to think [fatigue] when you’re out there at 100 pitches, but there’s no excuse for the walk,” Gee said. “I wanted to be out there. It’s up to me. At that point, it’s up to me to get it done and really, I didn’t get it done.”