Blade Tidwell hit hard in debut, Mets drop first game of doubleheader against Cardinals

The Mets fell to the St. Louis Cardinals by a score of 6-5 in the first game of a doubleheader on Sunday.

Here are the key takeaways…

–Blade Tidwell’s major league debut didn’t exactly go to plan. While the right-hander showed off a 98 mph fastball and a nasty breaking ball, his command was a bit all over the place. Tidwell allowed a solo home run to Willson Contreras in the second inning, but things really didn’t start to spiral until the fourth. Tidwell allowed three hits, walked two, and hit another batter in the fourth, and a four-spot on the board ended his day.

Overall, Tidwell went 3.2 innings, allowing six earned runs on nine hits, striking out two, walking three, and hitting a batter.

-The Mets also dealt with an injury in this game, as Jesse Winker was forced to exit in the fourth inning due to right side discomfort. Making his first start in the outfield this season, Winker made a throw to the plate in the third, but it’s currently unclear as to whether or not that caused the discomfort.

With Winker forced out, Carlos Mendoza had to play some musical chairs, moving Jeff McNeil from second base to left, Luisangel Acuña from third to second, and bringing in Mark Vientos to play third.

–Pete Alonso remains completely locked in at the plate. He doubled in each of his first two at-bats, coming around to score in the first inning on a Brandon Nimmo RBI double. Alonso now has a 1.130 OPS on the season.

-Lefty Genesis Cabrera did a nice job of registering six outs for the Mets, getting out a of a first-and-third situation in the fourth after Tidwell was pulled. With another game coming up this evening, the Mets needed some length out of their pitchers, and Cabrera tossed two scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

-Trailing by three runs in the top of the eighth, the Mets built a rally against former Met reliever Phil Maton. Starting with a Luis Torrens walk, the Mets started passing the baton, and Francisco Lindor came through with the bases loaded, hitting a single up the middle to score a pair of runs and keep the chain moving.

With the bases loaded and JoJo Romero now on to pitch, Alonso was called out on strikes on a more than questionable 3-2 call from home plate umpire Jim Wolf, and Nimmo flew out harmlessly to center to keep the Cardinals up by a run.

In the ninth, the Mets moved the potential tying run to third base with two outs, but Acuña, who had three hits on the day, popped out on the infield to end the game.

Who was the game MVP?

Contreras, who homered and drove in three with three hits in the game.

Highlights

Upcoming schedule

Game two of the split doubleheader is set for 6:15 p.m.

Tylor Megill will take the mound, opposite fellow righty Andre Pallante.

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