Mets can't complete the comeback in tough loss to Dbacks
New York's eight-game winning streak at home was snapped. Plus, notes on bullpen injuries, RISP woes, and Juan Soto's underwhelming start...
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets saw their eight-game winning streak at Citi Field snapped after losing 4-3 to the D-Backs on Wednesday night (box | highlights)
RHP Huascar Brazobán served as the opener in a bullpen game, and tossed two scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts
LHP Brandon Waddell - making his first MLB appearance since 2021 - didn’t allow a run on three hits with no walks and four strikeouts over 4.1 innings
However, RHP Ryne Stanek gave up another lead by allowing two earned runs on three hits, before RHP Chris Devenski gave up a pair of earned runs on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts
Both 3B Mark Vientos and CF Tyrone Taylor hit solo home runs on what was an overall frustrating night for the New York offense
DH Jesse Winker — in the game as a pinch-hitter — drove in a run in the bottom of the ninth and loaded the bases, but C Francisco Álvarez grounded out to end the comeback
The Mets went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, leaving 13 runners stranded on base
Injury Updates 🏥
LHP Danny Young (left elbow strain) has been placed on the 15-day injured list with Tommy John surgery a possibility
LF Brandon Nimmo (sickness) was available off the bench on Wednesday after missing Tuesday’s game
Roster Moves 📰
LHP Brandon Waddell selected from Triple-A Syracuse
RHP Kevin Herget optioned to Triple-A Syracuse following Tuesday’s game
LHP Danny Young placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to April 15, with a left elbow strain
RHP Chris Devenski selected from Triple-A Syracuse
LHP Brooks Raley transferred to 60-day injured list
Who’s Hot? 🔥
Over his last 11 games, 3B Mark Vientos is hitting .310/.362/.667/.1.028 with four home runs and 11 RBIs
Over his last 13 games, 1B Pete Alonso is hitting .311/.475/.556/.1.030 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, 10 runs scored, seven RBIs and 11 walks
Who’s Cold? 🥶
DH Starling Marte went 0-for-3 with a strikeout on Wednesday, and is now hitting just .173/.290/.327/.617 on the year
Play of the Game ⭐️
The Mets struggled with runners in scoring position all night long, finishing 0-for-10 and leaving 13 runners stranded on base.
Well, the peak of those struggles occurred in the bottom of the ninth inning. After Jesse Winker had kept the rally going by forcing home a run, Francisco Álvarez stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs.
The stage was set for the catcher to play the role of hero by coming up with a monster hit to drive in the tying and winning runs.
Instead, Álvarez grounded out to third base, immediately ending the game and leaving the Mets to reflect on a slew of missed opportunities.
Down on the Farm 🌾
SS William Lugo (Double-A): 3-for-4, 2 RBI, 1 2B
DH Jacob Reimer (No. 20 prospect, High-A): 3-for-5, 3 R, 5 RBI, 3 HR
C Ronald Hernandez (No. 26 prospect, High-A): 4-for-4, 3 R, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 1 SB
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR (GM 1 | GM 2)
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (21-10) vs. Diamondbacks (16-14)
Where: Citi Field — Flushing, New York
Starters: RHP Kodai Senga (3-1, 1.26 ERA) vs. RHP Zac Gallen (1-4, 5.57 ERA)
When: 1:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY, MLB Network
Notes on the need for bullpen reinforcements, the RISP problem and Juan Soto… ✍️
You can’t win them all.
The Mets have been red-hot at Citi Field to start 2025, but a baseball season is a grueling war of attrition and ups and downs are to be expected.
Well, the club certainly endured a down night on Wednesday, unable to come up with a big hit all night long as their eight-game winning streak at home was snapped.
It was a frustrating night for the offense, particularly in clutch situations, and there was also some more bad news on the injury front for the bullpen. To that end, let’s talk about the three biggest talking points to emerge from Wednesday night’s loss…
No more lefties
If losing A.J. Minter for potentially the entire year wasn’t bad enough, the Mets may also have to do without Danny Young. The reliever was placed on the 15-day injured list with a left elbow strain last night, and Tommy John surgery hasn’t been ruled out which would also end his season.
As a result, the Mets could be without both Minter and Young for an extended period of time, if not the rest of the year. Not great! Of course, the front office recently brought back Brooks Raley, but he is currently recovering from Tommy John surgery and probably won’t be available until at least June.
So, what do the Mets do? Well, in the short-term, at least, manager Carlos Mendoza spoke about the team’s confidence in the likes of Max Kranick, Reed Garrett and José Buttó to get lefties out. That’s certainly a viable option when you consider that Kranick has held lefty hitters to a .182 batting average so far this year.
However, as with anything in life, you need balance and the Mets very likely can’t afford to go the rest of the year without having at least one lefty reliever in the bullpen. Minter’s loss will hurt the most because he was a shutdown arm who can thrive in high-leverage situations, and those kind of lefty relievers just don’t grow on trees.
Being that it’s May 1st, there aren’t really any options available on the open market, and any free agent would need to ramp up in any case. Therefore, it will be up to president of baseball operations David Stearns to work his magic on the trade market once again. Stearns has demonstrated time and time again his ability to trade for unwanted relievers and turn them into absolute studs.
If both Minter and Young are indeed lost for the year, Stearns will probably need to do what he does best once again. You can’t really replace a shutdown lefty arm like Minter at this point in the season, so Stearns will probably need to look to replace some of that production on the margins.
Of course, an in-house option like Brandon Waddell could potentially emerge. The lefty made his first MLB appearance since 2021 on Wednesday, coming in and tossing 4.1 innings of scoreless ball with no walks and four strikeouts. That is a very small sample size, of course, but Waddell flashed tantalizing signs of potential and maybe he could be an option out of the bullpen going forward. If that’s the case, the Mets would then effectively have their two replacements with Waddell and then Raley, once the latter returns. Stearns will then have the opportunity to try and acquire a shutdown lefty arm at the trade deadline if that’s still a need.
For now, the Mets will battle on through adversity as they have done all year, but others will now have to step up to ensure that the potential long-term losses of Minter and Young don’t hurt this team to the extreme.
RISP woes strike again
For as good as the Mets have been this year, they haven’t yet been able to figure it out with runners in scoring position.
The lineup went 0-for-10 with RISP on Wednesday night, leaving a whopping 13 runners stranded on base, continuing an early season trend for the club. New York couldn’t come up with the big hit and take advantage of putting plenty of traffic on the base paths.
For instance, the bases were loaded in the bottom of the ninth after Jesse Winker forced home a run to make it a one-run game, with a ninth consecutive win at Citi Field right there for the taking. Instead, Francisco Álvarez grounded out to end the game, and the opportunity was lost. Just like that.
The Mets have wasted way too many opportunities with runners in scoring position this season and, while it hasn’t really hurt them in a big way yet, it will come back to bite them in the butt at some point.
At the time of writing this, New York ranks 25th in Major League Baseball with runners in scoring position (.224) and the team’s OPS in those situations is .731, which ranks 15th in all of baseball. That just simply isn’t good enough, especially when you consider the talent in that lineup.
At some point, the pitching is going to come back to earth a little bit. When that happens, the Mets will need to be ready to execute a lot better with runners in scoring position. A lot better than they are right now, that’s for sure.
Don’t panic about Soto
As it turns out, expectations will be sky-high after you sign a record-breaking, historic contract. Juan Soto is finding that out right now.
The superstar hitter isn’t exactly off to the best start, going 0-for-4 with a walk on Wednesday night. He’s now hitting .241 on the year and hasn’t hit a home run since April 15th. He has just three homers and 12 RBI on the year and is hitting just .174 with runners in scoring position, which isn’t exactly helping the Mets’ problem in that area.
Soto is getting on base (.368) and is drawing a lot of walks (23), and he’s been contributing to the team’s overall success in other ways. With that said, the Mets aren’t paying Soto the big bucks to be just above-average. They are paying him huge amounts of money to be one of the best hitters on the planet. And, so far, that hasn’t been the case.
His slugging percentage stands at just .384, he’s grounding out a hell of a lot and per Statcast, his barreling rate is at a career-low 5.6 percent.
But, with all that said, I wouldn’t spiral into full-blown panic mode over Soto just yet. He’s not exactly been a net-negative, he’s still getting on base and it is important to remember that he’s still adjusting to a new team. He’s also adjusting to batters pitching to him differently.
Soto has shown signs of improvement in his at-bats over the last couple of games, including hitting a ball to right field that reached 112 mph on Wednesday night. I would bet all the money in the world that Soto won’t be hitting .241 by the time we reach the end of June, and I don’t think it will be long until a true breakout happens.
Soto is just too elite of a hitter to be mired in this kind of average slump for an entire year. He’s going to mash, and he’s going to mash at an incredibly high level. And, once he hits his first home run at Citi Field and gets that monkey off his back, expect plenty more to follow in short order.
So, advice of the day? Don’t waste your time panicking over Soto’s underwhelming start to the season. It isn’t worth it.
The Juan Soto experience we’ve all been waiting for will happen soon, and when it does, it will be spectacular.
Around the League 🚩
A fan was taken to hospital after falling from the right field bleachers onto the field of play at PNC Park in Pittsburgh on Wednesday
OF Aaron Judge homered and had three hits against the O’s, finishing April hitting .427 with 10 home runs, tied for the lead in MLB
LHP Noah Cameron had an MLB debut to remember, tossing 6 1/3 scoreless innings and taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning as the Royals beat shutout the Rays, 3-0
Angels OF Mike Trout left Wednesday’s game against Seattle with left knee soreness, although he could be okay to play on Thursday
SS Mookie Betts finished with four RBIs and 1B Freddie Freeman homered as the Dodgers beat the Marlins, 12-7
The Rockies snapped their 8-game losing streak, but still finished April with the worst-record in MLB history, after beating the Braves, 2-1
Tough loss. Stanek didn't exactly get hit hard, so it was just one of those days in the life of a relief pitcher. I'm starting to wonder how much Marte has left, though.
And what the heck is Alvy doing bailing and whaling again? He did all that work in the offseason to learn how to go to right-center, looked great doing it in Spring Training, comes back after the hamate and now he's back to his old bad habits.
I mentioned this in the Amazing Avenue forum: Alvy needs to sit down with a steady diet of Thurman Munson clips and learn how to hit like that. He's made great progress simplifying his stance. Now he has to take it another step and simplify it even more, and then contain his swing.
If he does that and goes inside-out to right-center on a regular basis, he'll end up somewhere around .280 on the year and hit 25+ dingers by accident.
Very frustrating game. I knew we were in trouble when they showed Stanek warming up. I think the Marte experience may be coming to an end. We need more production at DH. Let’s win it today 💪