The Mets have hit rock bottom.
Relying on David Peterson to throw seven innings every 5-6 days while the rest of the rotation only goes five innings clearly isn’t an effective plan. But then again, getting no-hit is also a pretty ineffective plan.
Right-hander Gavin Williams no-hit the Mets through 8 1/3 innings on Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field as the Cleveland Guardians completed a three-game sweep with a 4-1 win. Juan Soto finally ended the no-hit bid in the bottom of the ninth with a solo homer to straightaway center.
Otherwise, the at-bats were uncompetitive, and the fans who showed up for an early afternoon contest booed the Mets off the field. Who could blame them? The team that had the best record in baseball for nearly a year has one of the worst records in baseball since June.
Peterson went six innings, allowing four earned runs on five hits, walking two and striking out seven. The lefty gave up two home runs in the first three innings, a solo shot to David Fry in the second inning and a two-run home to Angel Martinez in the third. The Guardians pushed across another run in the sixth.
But with such thin margins for error, Peterson did what he could. So too did relievers Reed Garrett and Justin Hagenman. Credit Williams for a brilliant outing and for nearly accomplishing one of baseball’s more difficult feats. He threw 126 pitches, limiting the Mets to only Soto’s home run while striking out six until right-hander Hunter Gaddis took over with two outs in the ninth and Brandon Nimmo on first after his third walk.
The Citi Field faithful gave him a well-deserved, respectful ovation when he was removed.
But three walks by Brandon Nimmo, one by Cedric Mullins and a late-game homer is never enough to win a game.
The Mets tend to look at their hitting and pitching plans in a very individualistic way. There isn’t one blanket approach or philosophy they implement with their hitters or their pitchers. Each hitter goes up to the plate with a different approach tailored to their own strengths and weaknesses. This tends to be thought of as successful, but when the players don’t execute, it can make it tougher to get them to turn things around.
But the Mets have now lost eight of their last nine games after winning seven in a row, including four straight. The offensive struggles have been obvious all season, especially when it comes to producing runs and hitting with runners in scoring position. They’ve shaken up the lineup, they’ve worked tirelessly watching video and hitting in the cages.
Whatever they’re doing isn’t working at the moment. The Mets continue to say that every season has ups and downs, and that this is simply one of the down periods. The fans aren’t going to accept that justification any longer.
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