NEW YORK – The Mets’ problems in the batter’s box persisted during Sunday’s 1-0 loss to the Athletics at Citi Field. It marked the first time New York was swept by the A’s, and the third time the Mets were shut out this season.
The Mets essentially lost the game in the top of the third inning, when Nick Kurtz swung at an 0-2 curveball from right-hander Freddy Peralta and golfed the ball over the right-field wall.
New York had a chance to at least tie the score in the sixth inning, with runners on first and second and one out, but A’s right-hander Aaron Civale induced Jorge Polanco to hit into a force play. Civale left the game in favor of left-hander Hogan Harris, who was able to get pinch-hitter Mark Vientos to fly out to right fielder Lawrence Butler. Overall, the Mets went 0-for-3 with runners in scoring position and left four men on base.
In the late innings, when the Mets needed a thumper in the batter’s box, Luis Robert Jr. wasn’t available to pinch-hit for catcher Luis Torrens or outfielder Tyrone Taylor. According to manager Carlos Mendoza, after playing five consecutive games, Robert needed a day off.
“We didn’t have him for defense because of those reasons,” Mendoza said, assuring that Robert is not injured. “With [Torrens], I like his at-bats today, and we are kind of limited with not having Robert as a full player.”
The Mets are now averaging 3.38 runs per game since Juan Soto went on the IL on April 4, having averaged 4.38 prior to that. Since that time, the team has a slash line of .273/.313/.364 (.676 OPS) with runners in scoring position.
Now on a five-game losing streak, New York heads west to play a tough three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, where they will face the likes of Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani.
Mendoza doesn’t detect any added pressure from his players.
“Tough homestand overall, offensively,” he said. “You come back from that [recent] road trip feeling good about the way you are swinging the bats. You win the first game [against the D-backs] and then you have a hard time scoring from there.
“Yesterday I thought the bats were better, but not enough to win the baseball game. At times we’re chasing, being passive in between. There would be a few innings where we didn’t have competitive at-bats. Today there were a few guys that hit balls hard, but right at people. We are not creating enough traffic to put together a rally. We have to keep going.”
Mendoza is planning to stay positive, as he believes there are good hitters on the roster. Don’t look for massive changes.
“It’s just a bad stretch. You have to continue to trust the players there. They are really good. We will continue to work with them,” he said.
Third baseman Bo Bichette also remains positive but believes the team needs to have better at-bats.
“We are going to score runs,” Bichette said. “Overall, we’ve had better at-bats, [need] to compete better. We’ll be all right.”