The Mets' loss to the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night was not pretty, but that was more because of the lack of hits against Logan Webb than it was about Luis Severino's performance.
In fact, the first-year Met was perfect through four innings and outpitched the NL Cy Young runner-up in the first part of the game. But one inning derailed Severino's night, and any real chance the Mets had at snapping their losing streak.
The fifth inning saw a Michael Conforto bloop single to break up the perfect game before two more singles gave the Giants a 1-0 lead. Jeff McNeil, playing in left field, did not hit the cutoff man and allowed the Giants runners to advance to second and third with just one out.
Instead of playing at double play depth, the Mets played in to try and cut off another run. Mike Yastrzemski took advantage by muscling a single over the infield to score two more runs. If playing at normal depth, the single is an out and perhaps Severino gets out of the fifth allowing just one run.
"A lot of good luck [for the Giants] there, a couple of bloopers in there but that’s part of the game," Severino explained after the game. "You make great pitches and if I continue to do that things will go my way.
"Even from the stretch, if I make good pitches I can get out of it. I felt like I made good pitches out there, but that's part of the game. Sometimes you run into a little bit of bad luck and that's going to happen."
Severino pitched six innings, giving up three runs and five hits while striking out five. But that's all Webb and the Giants needed as the Mets could only muster one run.
"Overall stuff was really good today. Other than that inning, some weak contact they were able to string some hits together," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said of his starter. "The fastball command, the sinker, got some swing and misses on the changeup, the slider was good. I thought it was a good outing for him."
Despite the result, Severino has quickly turned into one of the Mets' most reliable starters. After his first start, where he gave up six runs (three earned), Severino has allowed just five runs over his last four starts, including Tuesday.
The Mets (12-11) hope Severino's trend of quality starts continues as they look to compete in the NL East and for a Wild Card spot this season. They'll look to get back on track on Wednesday when they finish their three-game series with the Giants.