We wrote off Tuesday’s poor offensive performance due to lethargy from returning home from a West Coast trip. It’s not quite so easy to explain away Wednesday’s dismal outing. The Nationals sent the Mets to their fourth-straight loss with a 4-1 decision.
Kodai Senga continues to give up too many walks, which built up his pitch count and necessitated his removal after five innings. It wasn’t an awful performance but he left with a 2-1 deficit and ended up taking the loss.
The bullpen gave up two runs, which with the way the offense is going was too much to overcome.
Eduardo Escobar got the start for the Mets and he hit a ball that ended up as a triple when the Nats’ outfielder came up empty on a diving catch attempt. Starling Marte drove him in for the Mets’ only run. Escobar reached base on an error in the fifth inning and went to second on a walk by Brandon Nimmo. But Marte struck out and Lindor grounded out to end the threat.
The Mets had another scoring chance in the seventh inning, again started by the bottom of the order. Brett Baty pinch hit for Escobar and walked. Daniel Vogelbach pinch hit for Tomas Nido and he walked two, giving the Mets two on with no outs. Nimmo grounded out to put two runners in scoring position. But Marte and Lindor both struck out to end the rally.
One night after producing just five hits, the Mets managed only four on Wednesday. Jeff McNeil had the other two hits. And they struck out a season-high 15 times. They’ll try to salvage the final game on the series on Thursday when they face old pal Trevor Williams.
What a sad night. And as if they couldn’t sink any lower the starters in the next four games are Lucchesi, Peterson, Megill and undecided. The Braves must be excited to arrive. We better figure out how to hit.
Gut Reaction: this game was a struggle for the Mets all night. Senga has control issues and length. The offense has not been making contact. Apparently, when Alonso goes good then so do the Mets. That is not a winning formula.
Maybe they should inject some offense with a batting order change, McNeil at #3 and Lindor at #5. Alvarez starting and Nido (-23 OPS+) as the backup. Promote Vientos as the RH DH. A healthy Scherzer and Verlander would do wonders for the team.