Twelve runs allowed.
Twelve-run margin of defeat.
Twelve runners left on base.
Twelfth shutout suffered with twelve or more runners left on base in a nine-inning game in franchise history.
You could say 12s were wild for the Mets on Monday night in Cincinnati, except there was nothing that screamed or even whispered “wild” about their 12-0 loss to the Reds. Maybe it is wild in retrospect that management thought bringing back Tobias Myers from Syracuse to start would be helpful. It wasn’t. Myers lasted an inning-and-a-third. Jonathan Pintaro, another minor league returnee (did you notice he was gone?), soaked up the middle part of the game, which is usually one of those yeoman tasks a fan is inclined to applaud. Pintaro gave up a grand slam, so hold your applause. Later came David Peterson, whose work did not inspire a boomlet dedicated to his rotation reinstatement.
That was the pitching that permitted a dozen runs. The dozen runners the Mets put on became no runs, one of those broad offensive misfires that might be seem unprecedented, but the very same total of runners was left to loiter in a shutout inflicted upon the Mets by the Rays just last year, on the very same date, in fact. Time flies when you’re plating none. Had the Mets stranded the bases loaded in the ninth without scoring — as they did in the fourth, fifth, and seventh — they would have set the team record for most LOBs in regulation, topping the club record for spectacular futility from August 2023, shortly after the Mets waved an enormous white flag on their season. Alas, these Mets, presumably still endeavoring to compete, went out in order. So much for breaking new if sodden ground.
Any upside to losing, 12-0? Well, had the Mets scored 11, how aggravating would have a 12-11 loss been? And had the Mets allowed just one run, imagine the frustration in losing, 1-0. Do all your ineffective pitching and ineffectual hitting together, get both out of your system, and greet the next day (with its game to be started by Kodai Senga in place of IL-situated Christian Scott) as a new day, because it is.
No, not much of an upside. What do you want from a 12-0 loss?
And yes, now our best pitcher, Great Scott, is now on the IL.
This, of course, cannot be due to overuse, as Mendoza is determined to always rip the ball out of his hand in virtually every start after a very effective 4 2/3 innings.
Pintaro’s extended appearance has probably earned him a ticket to Syracuse, which hopefully will bring back a very effective Joey Gerber. That guy deserves to be here, but LOL Stearns, I guess.
Occasionally I’m grateful for the MLB blackout rules.