Steve Cohen came out to Kansas City to speak to his team. It didn’t help. The Mets got shut out by the lowly Royals, 4-0, Wednesday night. They’ll have to win Thursday afternoon to avoid the sweep.
We probably should have known it wasn’t going to be the Mets’ night when they got the first two batters on in the first inning and came away empty. Getting them on base wasn’t a problem for the Mets this game. They were 2-12 with RISP, with a runner thrown out by a wide margin at home on one hit and Joey Cora playing it safe by holding the runner at third base in the ninth inning on Daniel Vogelbach’s pinch hit.
Kodai Senga got squeezed on the very first batter he faced, throwing two pitches that looked like strike three with both being called balls. Instead of an out, the leadoff batter reached and scored, part of a two-run first inning. No runs would have scored had Senga gotten the call.
Senga allowed another run in the second inning but settled in to go scoreless the rest of the way.
Jeff McNeil had a three-hit game but when he came up in the ninth inning with the bases loaded, he – everyone say it with me – grounded out weakly to the second baseman to end the game. Pete Alonso did his best McNeil imitation, with four weak-hit balls, including one with a 55.9 exit velocity. He and Francisco Lindor were a combined 0-5 with runners in scoring position.
It was actually scary looking at the lineup and thinking we can’t score runs. Then Vientos misses a tag on that play and we shudder. Baty flies through the air and makes a throw to St Louis. Then no clutch hits at all. 2025-2026 not so sure. 🙁
Gut Reaction: the early innings it seemed like there was 1st and 2nd and couldn’t drive in the run. The lineup and bullpen had no names. It was a boring game. Maybe Mauricio would peak my interest.