Good morning, Mets fans! Scoring runs shouldn’t be this hard.
After the Mets lost the first game of the doubleheader Sunday, Carlos Mendoza was asked if the team’s problems were fixable.
“Yes,” he told reporters. “We’ve got to do something. That’s not a good showing. We’ve got to fix it.”
The fix may come, but it didn’t happen in Game 2. The Mets lost 3-0 to the Rockies and dropped to 9-19, tied with the Phillies for the worst record in baseball. The last time the Mets were 9-19 through 28 games was in 1983, a season they finished 68-94.
After that second loss, Mendoza was asked if he was concerned about losing his job.
“The only thing I’m worried about it here is I got to get the guys going,” he told reporters. “I get it. I get it. It sucks. And I know the questions will continue to come up. But my job is to find a way to get those guys out of the funk. That’s the bottom line.”
The Mets only run of the day came on a Tyrone Taylor homer. They have scored two runs or less in half their games. They are last in the majors in runs scored and 3.28 runs per game would be the second worst in the last decade if it stood for the season, per Justin Nicosia of MLB Statcast. The worst was the 2024 Chicago White Sox at 3.13. That was the team that lost 121 games to break the 1962 Mets’ record for losses in a modern era season.
“It’s not great,” Brett Baty said after going 0-for-7 with a walk and three strikeouts over the two games. “We got to be better. We’re putting in the work. All the guys are working really hard. Personally, I’ve been taking a bunch of swings and trying to get going. At the end of the day, we just got to be better.”
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images
Kodai Senga exited to boos when he was pulled in the third inning of the second game. He gave up three runs on three hits, walked three and struck out one. He entered the game with an 8.83 ERA and managed to get it to go up, leaving the mound with it at an even 9.oo. He has given up 20 earned runs in 20 innings pitched and was asked if he’d accept a demotion to Triple-A like he did last season.
“I think that warrants a lot of discussions with a lot of different people,” he said through a Japanese interpreter. “I can’t give you a yes or no answer right now.”
In the Game 1 loss, Nolan McLean gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits, walked two and struck out seven over five innings. The rookie’s ERA is 2.55 over 35 1/3 innings pitched.
The Mets are off Monday. They start a three-game series at Citi Field with the Nationals on Tuesday at 7:10 p.m. ET. Clay Holmes (2-2, 2.10 ERA) faces RHP Zack Littell, (0-3, 7.56 ERA). Maybe the Mets can get the bats going against Littell. He has given up 14 earned runs in his last two starts.
Latest Mets News
Tommy Pham, who went 0-for-13 with seven strikeouts in nine games, was designated for assignment. Per Will Sammon of The Athletic, the Mets agreed to a deal with 33-year-old outfielder Austin Slater, who the Marlins DFA’d last week. James Villani has more on those moves here.
Latest MLB News
Red Sox infielder Trevor Story said Sunday that the team’s explanation for firing manager Alex Cora was not “satisfactory.” Cora and five coaches were fired Saturday with the Red Sox off to a poor start. “I mean obviously, it’s kind of up in the air what the true direction of the franchise is,” Story said. “Some of the best coaches in the world didn’t get a fair shot.”
Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton was out of the lineup for the second straight day with right calf tightness and manager Aaron Boone said a decision on whether he will go on the injured list will be made Monday.
The Nationals placed reliever Clayton Beeter on the injured list with right forearm soreness.
Latest on MMO
Johnluke Chaparro recapped the 3-0 loss. James Villani recapped the 3-1 defeat.
James Villani dove in on four minor leaguers off to fast starts. You may know about A.J. Ewing and Elian Peña, but how about John Bay and JT Benson?
Jack Ramsey covered the Saturday minor-league action. Peña had two hits.
On This Date in Mets History
2012: Scott Hairston hits for the cycle, drives in four and scores three times, but it is not enough. The Rockies score 11 runs in the fifth inning of an 18-9 victory over the Mets at Coors Field. Manny Acosta gives up seven earned runs on five hits and two walks and records one out.
2010: The Mets sweep a doubleheader from the Dodgers. Jason Bay homers and Johan Santana throws six scoreless in the 4-0 win in Game 1. Bay and David Wright each triple in the 10-5 win in Game 2. Birthday boy Frank Catalanotto turns 36 and goes 0-for-1.
1965: The Mets add 39-year-old coach Yogi Berra to the active roster. He had retired as a player from the Yankees in 1963, but will play in four games and go 2-for-9 with a run scored and three strikeouts with the Mets.
Born on This Date: J.D. Davis (1993), Orber Moreno (1977), Frank Catalanotto (1974), Eric Hillman (1966), Bob MacDonald (1965), Brian Giles (1960), Rogers Hornsby (1896).
Hornsby, the Hall of Fame infielder, was a scout and the third base coach for the 1962 Mets.
