Mets swept away by Blue Jays as the Mets look to avoid a June swoon

Despite blasting four home runs, the Mets were doomed by faulty pitching, questionable bullpen usage

Linda Surovich

Jun 5, 2023

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

After trailing 4-0, the Mets battled back but still ultimately lost and got swept by Toronto by a score of 6-4 at Citi Field on Sunday (Box)
Kodai Senga pitched on four days rest for the first time this season and it did not go well. He did not make it out of the third inning and gave up four runs while walking five
Tommy Pham hit two home runs out of the leadoff spot with Brandon Nimmo getting the day off. This was the ninth multi-home run game of Pham’s career
Both Pete Alonso and Starling Marte also left the yard
After the Mets had tied the game in the sixth inning, Dominic Leone immediately gave up the game-winning runs the next half inning
Alonso now holds the record for most home runs hit in Citi Field with 72. He also leads the league in blasts this season with 21
The Mets have now been swept three times this season, and this was the first time they’ve ever been swept by the Blue Jays
Longtime catcher Tomás Nido alluded on his Instagram story last night that his time with the club is likely ending

News and Notes 📰

Original Met Roger Craig passed away at the age of 93

Injury Updates 🏥

Ronny Mauricio exited his game with Triple-A Syracuse early with a sprained ankle but he is expected to be ok
Elieser Hernández (shoulder) threw 1.1 innings with one strikeout while on a rehab assignment with St. Lucie
José Quintana (rib surgery) will throw live BPs this week in Port St. Lucie before ramping up to rehab games

Today’s Game 🗓

It is an off day for the Mets as they travel to Atlanta to take on the first place Braves.

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The specter of the June swoon looms… ✍🏼

The Mets had an opportunity to take advantage of a somewhat easy schedule in May, especially when they played two of the worst teams in the league back-to-back in the Cubs and Rockies.

Instead, they went 2-4 on that road trip, summing up their May as a whole.

In May, they went 14-15. So far in June, they are 1-3. Looking ahead, the schedule does not get any easier.

Up next are the Braves in Atlanta. On the one hand, the Mets have an opportunity make up a lot of ground in the NL East this week, but on the other they simply cannot afford to fall behind them any further. Then there are the Pirates who got off to a hot start but regressed over the last few weeks. Still, they are playing much better than expected, have a lot of positive energy and appear to unquestionably be on the rise. Then of course they have the Yankees for two next week, which is always a challenge no matter what the state of each team is.

After that is the Cardinals who are the team with the worst record in the league right now, but as we have seen with the Rockies and Cubs, the Mets have tended to play down to their competition this year. Then they end the month playing the Astros, Phillies, Brewers, and Giants.

With the Mets being among the mediocre teams in the league so far in 2023, the month of June is critical as they look to at least tread water and begin to determine who and what they are into July and towards the trade deadline. They’ve certainly made it harder on themselves most of the time, but they’ve shown glimpses of what they can be after a few strong turns through the rotation since mid-May and an ability to beat the league’s elite in the Rays.

If they can manage to stay afloat, perhaps they can swing big at the deadline and go on a run, but that would also mean trusting GM Billy Eppler to make the right moves and acquire another Yoenis Céspedes, and not another Darin Ruf.

But first, the Mets have to win and prove they belong. Seize the day.

Onto yesterday…

Before the game, Mets manager Buck Showalter said Kodai Senga was looking forward to pitching on regular rest for the first time this season.

I wonder how he feels now?

His start didn’t go well to say the least. He was erratic, didn’t seem to know where the ball was going for any length of time, and Showalter cut his start short as a result, creating another long afternoon for the bullpen.

One could argue this start is a part of the adjustment process, and that Senga threw on regular rest for the first time and to, “trust the process.” Sure, I get that but in the end, he didn’t pitch well, walked the farm and didn’t really adjust at the first opportunity here. Lets see what he does in his next start, a game in which he will have five days rest thanks to today’s off-day.

The Mets did battle back as Starling Marte had an increasingly rare strong day at the plate, and Tommy Pham - who at one point a week or so ago seemed like he might find himself on the outside looking in - had a two-homer day to help get this game tied at four.

But as we’ve said time and time again, when the team falls down by multiple runs early, everything else has to break right - and the decision-making process has to be flawless - for the team to have a chance at winning.

And on Sunday, both decision-making and performance led to the Mets downfall, as Showalter left Dominic Leone in for one too many sequences and the Mets offense didn’t have another rabbit to pull out of their hat to save them from being swept by the Blue Jays, at home on Hall of Fame weekend no less.

The Mets finished their once promising homestand 3-3 embarrassingly, at best. They hit .177/.239/.315 in their six games against Philadelphia and Toronto with four of their seven home runs coming on Sunday. Two of the previous four home runs on the homestand came from Mark Canha against the Phillies.

In other words, its generally more of the same for this team, that which has shown 1) no ability to consistently score runs and score runs in bunches and 2) on Sunday specifically, too much reliance on what has now become a strained bullpen.

As such, the Mets fell back to .500 yesterday and now have the pleasure of visiting the Braves, a team they trail by 5.5 games in the National League East, and don’t look like they belong on the same field with at the moment.

It’s not early anymore as the specter of the June Swoon looms once again for this franchise.

Around the League 🚩

The White Sox walked-off the Tigers to give Liam Hendriks, who recently returned to the mound after battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the win on National Cancer Survivors Day
Eddie Rosario hit a grand slam in the ninth to give the Braves the 8-5 win over the Diamondbacks
The Yankees are expected to place Nestor Cortes on the injured list with a shoulder injury
Kyle Schwarber blasted two home runs in the Phillies’ win over the Nationals