Mets' offensive struggles continue in loss to Rockies
Brandon Nimmo of the New York Mets strikes out during the eighth inning against the Colorado Rockies at Citi Field on Saturday in Queens. Credit: Jim McIsaac
These Mets had the highest batting average in the National League last year. They got on base consistently and hit with runners in scoring position. What they lacked in power they made up in persistence — pestering visiting pitchers into submission on the way to 101 wins.
It’s “these Mets” and not “those Mets” because so much of the lineup is the same this season. And it’s “last year” and not “this year” because, despite that fact, the 2023 iteration has been struck by an offensive malaise both potent and viral. That again was the case as they lost to the lowly Rockies, 5-2, on Saturday at Citi Field.
The Mets have scored three runs in two games against the team with the second-worst ERA in the National League. They have managed only four runs in their last four games (two against the Tigers, two against the Rockies). They have lost six of eight and have a .216 batting average in the last week.
“Guys are pushing, sometimes to a fault,” manager Buck Showalter said. “You can want something too much. When we’re at our best, we’re passing the baton and grinding at-bats and making [pitchers] work for everything. We had some innings where their pitcher really didn’t have to get extended that much and he was able to pitch without having to show all his pitches early . . . We just haven’t had the same challenge for pitchers that we usually do.”
Showalter said he’ll continue to consider shuffling the lineup and is open to moving a slumping Starling Marte out of the two hole. (Marte is hitting .174 in the last seven days and Pete Alonso is batting .167).
Trailing 5-2 in the eighth, the Mets got the tying run to the plate when Francisco Lindor singled and Alonso walked against reliever Jake Bird. But pinch hitter Jeff McNeil struck out on three pitches.
“We’re humans. We have gotten outside of what we do best, including myself,” Lindor said. “We’ll be consistent. We’ve got to continue to fight the fight.”
Fight is the right word for it, because every run seems to be very hard-earned.
The Mets tied it twice but never led. Rockies starter Austin Gomber allowed two runs and five hits with two walks and three strikeouts in six innings.
Tylor Megill lacked command but was mostly able to contain the damage. The Rockies struck a big blow in the sixth when reliever Stephen Nogosek allowed a two-run homer by Ezequiel Tovar to make it 5-2.
Megill struggled from the first pitch, throwing seven straight balls before finally nicking the top of the strike zone against the second batter of the game. After walking leadoff batter Charlie Blackmon, he hit Kris Bryant to put runners at the corners with one out. C.J. Cron flied out but Elias Diaz singled home Blackmon. Fourteen of the 25 pitches Megill threw in the first were called balls, and of the 11 remaining pitches, four were out of the zone.
“I didn’t really have my stuff today,” said Megill, who allowed three runs and six hits with three walks and four strikeouts in 4 2⁄3 innings. “I was just trying to grind through it . . . This was definitely frustrating, to say the least.”
After kicking off the third with back-to-back singles, the Mets managed only three more hits, also singles, in the remainder of the game.
“I still believe we have one of the best offensive teams out there,” Lindor said. “We just haven’t put it together collectively . . . We are good and we’re going to be great toward the end of the year.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
