BOSTON -- This Mets lineup is, without question, engineered around its top three hitters. Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso all have histories of terrorizing the league. At various points this season, they have done precisely that.
But lately, the Mets have endured a peculiar number of nights like Monday, when those three stayed mostly quiet in a 3-1 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway Park. Lindor is in a 1-for-22 slump over the last six games. Soto’s good-not-great start to the season has been well documented. Alonso, meanwhile, has cooled significantly after a transcendent April; since his last home run on May 5, Alonso is batting .170 with a .450 OPS.
Over their last two games, both losses, those top three hitters have gone 2-for-22 without a run scored, an RBI or an extra-base hit.
“We’re not clicking at the same time,” Lindor said.
That was apparent throughout Monday’s loss, which saw Lindor in particular struggle, stranding four runners on base in his final two at-bats. After Francisco Alvarez and Jeff McNeil recorded consecutive hits to turn the lineup over in the fifth, Lindor struck out from the right side of the plate -- historically his stronger side -- to end the threat. Two innings later, with runners on the corners and two outs, Lindor grounded out.
Asked postgame about his recent slump, Lindor gave himself a “C, C-minus” for the quality of his at-bats. But he represents merely one-third of the top of the order. The hitter directly behind Lindor in the lineup, Soto, underscored an early sore spot to his season by hitting the ball on the ground in three of his four at-bats. The only exception came in the sixth, when Soto launched a ball high off the Green Monster, then spent enough time admiring it that he had to stop at first with a single.
Afterward, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said he planned to speak to Soto about his hustle. Soto later disputed the notion that his effort is an issue.
“It’s a game of failure,” Soto said of his overall production. “Sometimes, you’re going to fail.”
The final member of the Top 3 is Alonso, whose batting average has fallen 48 points over the past two weeks. His slugging percentage has dipped more than twice as much, though Mendoza said he’s been seeing enough in Alonso’s recent at-bats to believe the first baseman is “coming again.”
Perhaps all three will soon resemble their former selves. In terms of overall numbers, Lindor, Soto and Alonso all still feature OPS marks over .800.
But all three are also bona fide MVP candidates who expect more from themselves -- especially when bunched together atop New York’s lineup. Of note, none of the three have homered in the Mets’ last seven games. They have two total extra-base hits over that stretch.
Largely because of that lack of production, the Mets have lost four of their last five games. Since April 30, they are two games below .500.
“They’re human,” Mendoza said of Lindor, Soto and Alonso. “If those guys go, we’re going to go. … They’re going to go through it at times. And right now, they’re fighting.”
How the Mets address the situation isn’t much of a question. Even if Mendoza wanted to shake up his lineup, his other candidates to hit in the top three -- Brandon Nimmo and Mark Vientos chief among them -- aren’t hitting at elite levels either.
So the usual trio will continue to grind. Lindor pointed to a May 12 contest against the Pirates as evidence that the Mets’ top three hitters are not far off. In the ninth inning of that game, Lindor singled to center, Soto followed with another hit to put runners on the corners, and Alonso came through with a walk-off sacrifice fly.
Eventually, Lindor said, the Mets’ stars will start doing that sort of thing more often.
“At some point, I’m sure we’re going to go back to clicking at the same time,” Lindor said. “Hopefully, sooner rather than later, because if the three of us are clicking at the same time, we can score a lot of runs.”