3 Up, 3 Down: Mets Somehow Split Series in St. Louis

For a team still struggling to find rhythm at the plate and consistency in the win column, heading home after a series split with the Cardinals closed out a 4-3 road trip isn’t the worst situation in the world.

A frustrating 6-5 loss Monday was followed by a rainout Tuesday and split of a double-header Wednesday. Thursday’s series finale, a 4-1 matinee victory in St. Louis, showcased the best of the Mets in another outstanding pitching performance, as well as the worst – their abject failure with runners in scoring position.

Despite 11 walks from Cardinals pitching and nine Met hits, the team only plated four runs, three of which came via free passes with the bases loaded. A win to split the series is good; setting a franchise record with 17 men left on base in a nine-inning game is … not.

3 Up

Bullpen Doing Their Part

As a whole, the Met bullpen has been terrific, ranking second in the NL in ERA after questions surrounded the group entering the season. Wednesday’s seven-inning win in the nightcap of a doubleheader saw the ‘pen combine for 4 2/3 innings, allowing just one run.

Jeurys Familia looks to be in vintage form after several mediocre seasons. He pitched a scoreless inning Wednesday, giving up a hit and nothing else. His ERA is at 1.13 on the year and has only four walks in 10 appearances.

Trevor May gave up two runs in the Mets’ first game of the year and exactly zero since. May pitched an inning each in the last two Met wins, giving up a total of one hit while striking out two.

Aaron Loup was only tasked with getting one out during the Cardinal series, but his ERA is 0.00 on the year. That seems good.

Walker Continues Strong Season 

The big righty has been excellent as the No. 3 starter this year, but Thursday’s game was his best in the Orange and Blue. Taijuan Walker went seven innings, allowing just one hit (a Nolan Arenado grounder through the shift) and one unearned run while walking none and striking out eight.

After a 15-minute rain delay pushed back his start, Walker struck out the side in the first. Another rain delay during the sixth inning – this one 17 minutes – didn’t slow him down, as he bookended the precipitation by retiring the last 18 batters to face him, a career best.

Steady Mobbin’

The Mets depth players – specifically Kevin Pillar, Jonathan Villar, and Tomas Nido– all played a key role in the Cardinals series split. The self-described “Bench Mob” has been thrust into action largely due to injuries to Brandon Nimmo, J.D. Davis, and fellow reserve Luis Guillorme.

Pillar has been on fire, hitting .400 in the series with a homer and four RBI. Out of the Mets seven runs in the 7-2 victory Wednesday, six were driven in by the super-subs. Nido hit a two-run shot in the second, while Villar drilled an opposite-field solo homer in the fourth. Pillar and Villar both added RBI singles in the game and Pillar made a beautiful two-hop throw to nab former Met Ali Sanchez at the plate in the second inning.

3 Down

Lindor, For Now

Maybe Francisco Lindor’s ninth-inning, ground-ball single through the right side is the thing that finally wakes up his bat. Maybe one day we’re all laughing about his 0-for-26 streak that spanned the last week.

To quote Andy Dufresne in Shawshank Redemption, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things.” Three walks and a desperately-needed hit should provide hope, the series as a whole though, does not.

Over three games – he sat for the back-end of Wednesday’s double-header – Lindor went 1-10 with three strikeouts and left nine men on base. His poor throw on a routine grounder in the fifth inning (just his second error of the year) of Wednesday’s first game extended the inning, enabling Met-killer Paul DeJong to crush a two-run homer off the cruising Marcus Stroman.

Dom’s Difficulties

Dominic Smith actually heated up a bit towards the end of the series, going 2-for-4 Wednesday night and adding an RBI single in the eighth inning Thursday. Overall though, he went just 3-13 and stranded 12 men on base. A lot of Smith’s struggles have been masked by Lindor’s deficiencies, but he has just two extra base-hits since April 22.

He’s also just 5-for-32 with 11 strikeouts with runners in scoring position so far this season.

McCann Flailing

Another under-the-radar underperformer has been James McCann. The first big position player signing Steve Cohen era is off to a tough start in his new home. McCann played two games in the Cardinals series, going 2-for-7 with an RBI walk on Thursday, but left seven men on base over his appearances.

McCann has just one extra base-hit on the year, a home run back on April 14. Big part of the struggles is McCann hitting a groundball 56% of the time so far, well above his 38% groundball rate from 2020.

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Over the last week the Mets fired their hitting coach, had a deGrom start scratched, a rain out, two starters hit the IL and set a record in futility with runners in scoring position. And yet, they head home to Queens at 4-3 on the road trip, they’re at .500 on the year and only a game behind the Phillies for first place with six games in hand.

Things could certainly be better, but they could certainly be worse, too.