Mets flop again, lose fifth straight in a no-show loss in Atlanta
Plus, why it is on the team's stars to help respond to the Mets' biggest challenge of the year so far...
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets didn’t put up much of a fight on the way to being shutout 5-0 by the Braves on Wednesday night (box)
RHP Paul Blackburn gave up four runs - including a leadoff homer on the first pitch he threw - on four hits and two walks with two strikeouts across 3.2 innings
C Luis Torrens touched the ball with his mask in the first inning, committing a costly error that allowed a run to score
2B Jeff McNeil extended his on-base streak to 20 games - the longest active streak in MLB
However, the offense was a no-show overall, recording just five hits and going 0-for-1 with RISP, leaving six runners on base
The Mets have now lost five straight games - their longest losing streak of the 2025 season, and longest since May 20-25 of last season
Injury Updates 🏥
2B Brett Baty (right groin tightness) was unavailable for the second straight game and may still need a stint on the IL
RHP Frankie Montas laid yet another egg in his latest rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday, allowing five earned runs on seven hits and a walk with two strikeouts across five innings
Play of the Game ⭐️
For the second consecutive night, the Mets were burned by some bad defense behind the plate.
Following Francisco Alvarez’s tough night defensively on Tuesday, Luis Torrens was on catching duty for Wednesday’s game.
However, the normally reliable Torrens endured his own house of nightmares outing by committing a couple of mistakes that led to runs being scored.
Arguably the most damaging error came in the first. With the Mets already trailing, and with Paul Blackburn struggling early, Torrens touched a ball in the dirt with his mask, which isn’t allowed. As a result, a runner scored and a bad start suddenly got even worse.
That mistake set the tone for the rest of the night.
Torrens also went 0-for-4 at the plate on what was just a bad night, but his mental lapses behind the plate really cost his team and directly contributed to a fifth straight loss.
Down on the Farm 🌾
RHP Jack Wenninger (No. 27 prospect, Double-A): 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
1B Ryan Clifford (No. 6 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
OF Nick Morabito (No. 16 prospect, Double-A): 2-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 2B, 1 SB
RHP Nate Dohm (No. 18 prospect, High-A): 4.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K
SS Marco Vargas (No. 13 prospect, High-A): 2-for-4, 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 2B, 2 SB
BOX SCORES
Low-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
Match-up: Mets (45-29) at Braves (33-39)
Where: Truist Park - Atlanta, GA
Starters: RHP Clay Holmes (7-3, 2.87 ERA) vs. RHP Spencer Strider (1-5, 4.35 ERA)
When: 7:15 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY | MLBN (Out-of-market-only)
Stars must step up as Mets face their first season-defining challenge of 2025… ✍️
Wednesday night’s shutout loss to the Braves was one the Mets will want to flush as quickly as possible.
Paul Blackburn allowed a leadoff home run to Ronald Acuña Jr. on the first pitch he threw in just his second start of the year - a mistake Blackburn and New York never recovered from.
Luis Torrens - usually so reliable behind the plate - made a couple of costly errors that allowed a couple of crucial runs to score.
And then there was the offense, which just couldn’t solve Chris Sale, who tossed 8.2 innings of scoreless ball after entering the game with a stellar 1.14 ERA over his previous seven starts. The lineup managed just five hits all game, and offered no real threat to the Braves at any point.
All this on a night when the Phillies won to cut the NL East lead to one game. Oh, and Frankie Montas was absolutely shelled - again - in his latest rehab start, sparking further doubt over whether he’ll be an effective arm in the starting rotation.
Consequently, the Mets are now mired in their longest losing streak of the season and they now face their first real defining point of 2025.
How they respond to this skid, and all the adversity currently impacting the starting rotation, will tell us a lot about the makeup of this team.
And we will get to see that immediately over the course of the next several days. One more game against the Braves, followed by three against the Phillies and then four more against Atlanta, offers the Mets a real opportunity to prove this current losing streak is just a minor blip on the radar. Or, instead, they could show us that maybe this five-game skid is just the start of a bigger slide to come.
After all, if the Mets can’t right this ship in the next few days, they could be hosting Atlanta at Citi Field next week having given the division lead to the Phillies, while opening the door for the Braves to get right back into the race.
That’s all hypothetical right now, of course.
What isn’t hypothetical is the fact that in order to rise to the challenge now facing them, the Mets need their biggest stars to play to the back of their baseball cards and help prevent what is currently a minor slump from becoming something much more significant.
Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Pete Alonso went a combined 0-for-12 with five strikeouts on Wednesday. Lindor is currently without a hit in this series. Over the course of this five-game losing streak, the trio has been relatively quiet.
That can’t continue.
After all, Soto and Lindor are paid the big bucks to set the tone for the rest of the offense. They, along with Alonso, are expected to get things going and come up with the big hit in clutch situations. If they fail to hit and can’t deliver when it matters most, then this team will suffer, especially against good teams.
Soto, in particular, was given the richest contract in baseball history because of his generational hitting ability. While he has begun to turn somewhat of a corner in recent weeks, it is imperative that he now starts living up to his true potential and starts hitting like he’s done throughout his career. It is on Soto to come through and put the entire team on his shoulders and drag them through this current path of adversity.
With the starting rotation currently shattered in a million different pieces, it is on the offense to now carry the load, pick up the slack, and do enough to win games. The pitching has carried the Mets for much of 2025. Now it is the lineup’s turn to return the favor.
Having been punched in the mouth for the first real time this year, and with a crucial stretch of games now out in front of them, the Mets need to conjure up a response to what is the first season-defining challenge of the year.
And, to do so, they will need the likes of Soto, Lindor, and Alonso to step up now more than ever before.
Around the League 🚩
Principal owner Stuart Sternberg has entered exclusive negotiations to sell the Tampa Bay Rays to a group led by Patrick Zalupski, a developer based in Jacksonville
The Rays overcame an eight-run deficit to mount a stunning 12-8 comeback win over the Orioles - the largest comeback victory in franchise history
C Will Smith came off the bench to deliver a pinch-hit, walk-off home run to help the Dodgers beat the Padres, 4-3
LF Jose Altuve and DH Victor Caratini both launched three-run home runs in the seventh inning to help power the Astros to an 11-4 win over the A’s
LHP Garrett Crochet struck out eight and allowed just one run over six strong innings as the Red Sox beat the Mariners, 3-1
RHP Jack Kochanowicz recorded a career-high eight strikeouts to help the Angels to a 3-2 win over the Yankees at Yankee Stadium
Overall thus far Blackburn doesn't look like he adds anything to the pitching staff. Would be nice to add a dependable solid starter. In a baseball season there are usually winning and losing streaks, but the last 5 games have exposed diffincincies that they have covered up nicely all season., most noticeable to me the lack of productive hitting witmen on base.The Mets have won nothing yet, and don't bury the Braves yet.
I fear the Braves; it's part of my DNA. A Mets win today means the Braves only picked up a game. I don't count the Phillies out, but IMO the Braves are the team to beat, and the Mets better not get swept.