Mets lay a Godzilla-sized egg in shutout loss to Phillies

New York put in an embarrassing effort at Citi Field Field, putting up no runs while issuing eight more walks. Plus, Mark Vientos appears to be on his way back to the majors...

Andrew Steele

May 15, 2024

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

The Mets got nothing from the offense on the way to being shutout by the Phillies, 4-0 (box)
RHP Aaron Nola pitched a shutout gem for the Phillies, limiting the Mets to just four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts over nine innings
RHP José Buttó continued to struggle with walks, forcing in two runs with a BB and a HBP. He allowed two runs on one hit and four walks with four strikeouts over five innings
This is now the fourth time this season that the Mets have been shutout in a game
OF Starling Marte went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and was the only bright spot for the offense
The Mets went 1-for-3 with runners in scoring position, and left three runners on base
After warming up in the bullpen on Tuesday, RHP Adrian Houser won’t get the start against the Phillies on Wednesday. Instead, LHP Joey Lucchesi will be on the mound after being recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, per Joel Sherman (NY Post)
3B Mark Vientos was also recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, and will split time at the hot corner with 3B Brett Baty. INF Joey Wendle is expected to be DFA’d in the corresponding move (NY Post)
After issuing eight walks on Tuesday, Mets pitchers have now allowed a grand total of 187 walks this year, the most in the majors by a wide margin
Sandy Alderson, the former Mets team president, made it clear he wasn’t the biggest fan of ex-GM Billy Eppler on the latest episode of ‘The Show’ (NY Post)

Injury Updates 🏥

RHP Drew Smith (right shoulder soreness) is expected to be activated for today’s game against the Phillies
RHP Shintaro Fujinami recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, placed on the injured list with a shoulder strain

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Down on the Farm 🌾

RHP Max Kranick (Triple-A): 2.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, O K, 1 HR
1B Mike Brosseau (Triple-A): 3-for-3, 3 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HR
LHP David Peterson (Double-A): 5.1 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K
OF Kevin Villavicencio (Single-A): 2-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI

BOX SCORES

Single-A STL | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR

Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (19-22) Phillies (30-13)

Where: Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia

Starters: LHP Joey Lucchesi (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Ranger Suárez (7-0, 1.50 ERA)

When: 6:40 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY, MLB Network

The stage is set for Mark Vientos to shine and change some minds among Mets brass… ✍️

In the wake of an embarrassing effort by the Mets on Tuesday, the front office has decided to shake things up a bit.

With the offense getting totally shut down by Phillies starter Aaron Nola, and mostly every night for that matter, third baseman Mark Vientos will be recalled from Triple-A Syracuse, per Joel Sherman of the NY Post. So too will be left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi, who will get the start today after righty Adrian Houser got hot in the bullpen during Tuesday’s game.

More significant, though, is the return of Vientos.

The timing shouldn’t be understated given the no-show we witnessed from the offense in the 4-0 loss yesterday. The lineup managed just four hits all day, with the first of those not arriving until the bottom of the sixth inning. It was the fourth time this season that the Mets have been shutout, and the second time in a matter of days that they’ve been nearly no-hit.

And we’re still in May.

Therefore, it makes all the sense in the world to try something different in order to attempt to send a jolt of energy through that clubhouse.

And Vientos could prove to be the perfect spark plug at just the perfect time.

He hit .284/.376/.500/.876 with six home runs, five doubles and 30 RBIs in 31 games at Triple-A Syracuse this season.

Called up earlier in the season after outfielder Starling Marte was placed on the bereavement list, Vientos blasted a walk-off home run against the Cardinals and finished with three hits and two RBIs in three games at the big league level. Following his demotion, the righty bat produced a .743 OPS in eight games at Triple-A.

Now back in the majors, Vientos is expected to share playing time at the hot corner with Brett Baty, who has been slumping offensively. Through 39 games this season, Baty is hitting .230/.292/.317/.609 with three homers and 13 RBIs. He went 0-for-3 with one strikeout against the Phillies on Tuesday.

Vientos has arguably more offensive upside than Baty, and he’ll add a big bat and a lot of raw power potential to the bottom of the lineup. As he displayed so spectacularly in his last trip up to the majors, he has the ability to come up with the big hit in high-leverage situations with the pressure really on.

Furthermore, he has the potential to put the ball in play and he owns the kind of speed needed to make life interesting on the base paths. This Mets offense has been one-dimensional all season, stealing a total of just nine bases. Inserting Vientos into the lineup opens up the possibility for more action on the basepaths and, as a result, more ways to win close games.

And that’s what this team really needs right now.

Granted, Baty has made massive strides defensively and is a better defensive third baseman than Vientos, so they will be losing something in the field on the days Vientos plays the hot corner. But, on the flipside, the Mets are getting little to no production from the bottom of the lineup and Baty has been a general no-show at the plate since his hot start in April.

Vientos should help to put that right.

He’ll certainly offer more offensively than Joey Wendle, who was reportedly DFA’d after a disastrous start to his Mets career. Wendle was hitting just .235/.257/.265 with a .522 OPS heading into Tuesday, while committing three errors defensively with some mental mistakes in between. Vientos automatically raises the ceiling of the bottom-half of that lineup, and his ability to just destroy baseballs and make hard contact makes him more of a threat offensively than Baty or Wendle right now.

Of course, the Mets already DFA’d Zack Short earlier this season. Now, with Wendle on the outs, the club is without a natural utility player off the bench. Perhaps they will soon bring José Iglesias in from Triple-A Syracuse, or they can find someone on the waiver wire or make a trade, but that leaves Jeff McNeil as the backup shortstop for the time being.

But that’s an an underrated roster problem right now.

Interestingly, should Vientos be in the lineup in Philadelphia today, he’ll likely go up against lefty Ranger Suárez. Vientos took Suárez deep last year, and he tends to mash against left-handed pitching with a career .674 OPS.

Another aspect to this is the fact that Vientos is coming back up with a point to prove. A compelling argument can be made the third baseman has been mishandled by this current regime. He’s certainly been undervalued. From being sent down despite having a strong spring training, to being demoted again after impressing at the plate in a three-game sample size, Vientos hasn’t really been given a fair chance by the front office.

That could change now.

Vientos could be here to stay, especially if he’s able to produce offensively at the plate. If he can also create some more activity and noise on the bases, while helping to make the Mets more productive with runners in scoring position, then he has a much better chance of becoming an everyday player in the major leagues.

This lineup badly needs a spark. The stage is now set for Vientos to be just that for this Mets team and prove his worth in the process.

Around the League 🚩

DH Shohei Ohtani went 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBIs as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 10-2
LHP Chris Sale was at the peak of his powers, throwing seven scoreless innings with nine strikeouts in the Braves’ 7-0 shutout win over the Cubs
DH Giancarlo Stanton led the way with a homer with the Yankees beating the Twins, 5-1, to improve to 28-15
INF Romy González came off the bench to hit a walk-off RBI single as the Red Sox beat the Rays in extra innings