MILWAUKEE -- Nine pitches into the Mets’ series opener in Milwaukee on Friday, Juan Soto got his barrel to a four-seamer well up and in from Brewers starter Brandon Woodruff.
The ball kept traveling until it cleared the right-field wall at American Family Field, giving Soto his 27th home run of the year on his first-inning solo shot. Three Mets batters later, Starling Marte led off the top of the second with a homer of his own that cleared Milwaukee’s bullpen in left-center and extended New York’s early lead.
The Mets looked primed to break out of a recent slump. But after that pair of early long balls, the bats went silent. They managed only three more hits the rest of the way, and though they put together a two-out rally attempt in the ninth, Marte ultimately got thrown out at home plate to finish off the 3-2 loss to the Brewers.
“Credit to the pitcher for stopping the bleeding in a situation like that, after we hit the two homers,” Marte said, through interpreter Alan Suriel, about the lack of traffic between the home runs and the ninth inning. “He was commanding the zone the way he wanted to, and, yeah, he pretty much threw a perfect game after that.”
The issues at the plate continued a downward trend, as the offense hasn’t been able to get going since the All-Star break.
The Mets were middle-of-the-pack or lower in a number of major statistics nine games into the second half -- including ranking 13th in wRC+ (104), 17th in OPS (.716) and 20th in batting average (.237) -- though they managed a 7-2 record regardless. But things have since gotten worse for New York.
The club lost eight of its previous nine games entering Friday, with the lineup posting the lowest wRC+ (62), OPS (.561) and average (.189) in baseball during that stretch. It’s still a small sample, of course, but the slump has contributed to the Mets going from 1 1/2 games up in the National League East on July 28 to now 3 1/2 games back of the Phillies.
New York went just 5-for-30 (.167) while drawing three walks and striking out 10 times Friday. It was a rough offensive effort that handed the team its ninth loss in 10 games and its fifth straight.
“You just have to tip the cap to [the Brewers], because they're playing great baseball,” Marte said. “They were just able to stop us today.”
Standing just outside the visitors' clubhouse before Friday’s game, Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns couldn’t provide an easy explanation for the offensive slide.
“I don't have the silver-bullet answer for that,” he said. “We're certainly not the first good team to have periods of a season where we're not clicking. I certainly understand it's unique when you have the quality of players we do at the top of the order to go through some struggles at the same time, and I completely understand why that raises questions and why that raises frustrations.”
Asked if any of it falls on the hitting coaches, Stearns backed Eric Chavez and Jeremy Barnes, his confidence in them stemming from their “track records of helping to lead and put together really quality offenses.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza echoed that belief in the hitting-coach duo, noting their ability to connect with players and get the right message across and calling them “extremely hard workers” who are “really good at what they do.”
Regardless, it’s a puzzling trend considering the names that make up the top of New York’s order, like Soto, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso. However, having players like them also gives the team’s leaders a reason to have faith that things will turn soon.
“We have to trust that these are really good players,” Stearns said. “They believe in themselves. As an organization, we certainly believe in them, and I have full faith that they're going to snap out of this and we're going to see a good offensive team.”
However, that doesn’t make it much easier to stomach the issues currently plaguing the Mets’ offense.
“This is, at times, baseball, and it will drive you crazy when you have talented players who go through stretches like this,” Stearns said. “Over the last couple of weeks, we've really had a lineup that's gone through stretches like this, where we haven't performed up to our capabilities, and it is frustrating. Everyone is working as hard as they possibly can to get this turned around, and I think we will.”