SAN DIEGO -- One silver lining in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres, aside from avoiding getting no-hit?
Zack Wheeler has a 1.42 ERA in his past four starts. He has limited opponents to one run and completed at least six innings in each of those appearances.
Zack Wheeler
#45 SP
New York Mets
2014 STATS
- GM20
W5
L8
BB47
K112
- ERA3.78
The lone damage against Wheeler in a six-inning, 106-pitch performance Sunday came when Yasmani Grandal golfed a low offering over the right-center wall for a solo shot in the fourth that opened the game’s scoring.
Wheeler was making his first appearance since July 11 -- before the All-Star break.
“I finished strong and I tried to carry the confidence over and keep doing the same thing that I finished up doing,” Wheeler said. “I felt good. My command was a little off and I wish I didn’t let up that run, but sometimes you’ve got to give the hitter credit. Grandal hit a really good pitch. I wish we would have pulled this one out today.”
On the homer location, Wheeler added: “It was a good pitch -- down. It was in the middle of the plate, though, but it was down. I came back and looked at it on some video. He just did a nice job of hitting.”
Wheeler, of course, was outdueled by Odrisamer Despaigne, who took a no-hit bid two outs into the eighth. Wheeler was spared a loss when Daniel Murphy doubled and David Wright followed with a game-tying RBI single that inning.
The Mets suffered a walk-off loss in the ninth.
“This was one of those things that you’ve got to go out there and keep trying to put up zeroes,” Wheeler said. “You know our bats will eventually come around. They did and they got me off the hook.”
