The Mets were too swing-and-miss against the Pirates this weekend
The Mets have struck out 24 times over their last two games
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets lost to the Pirates 4-3 in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon (box)
New York’s offense sputtered all afternoon — the club struck out 16 times, went 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left eight runners on-base
RHP Nolan McLean started and had to battle through five innings but allowed only two runs on four hits with eight strikeouts in his first start of the year
3B Bo Bichette heard the boo birds at Citi Field after an 0-for-5 showing and three more strikeouts
The Mets 1-5 in their batting order went 4-for-19 with nine strikeouts on the day
CF Luis Robert Jr. continued his strong start to the season with a 2-for-3 afternoon at the plate, as did Brett Baty who went 2-for-4, albeit with three strikeouts combined
Play of the Game ⭐️
In the bottom of the tenth inning with nobody out and the Mets trailing 4-2, Juan Soto doubled into the left-center field gap to plate Francisco Alvarez, but Francisco Lindor was thrown out at the plate, which more or less ended the Mets threat and their day.
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
In the latest episode of The Just Mets Podcast, Andrew and Rich react to the Mets winning their first series of the year, Luis Robert Jr’s awesome weekend and Bo Bichette getting booed. Plus, their inaugural Curtain Call and El Stinko segments and predictions for the week ahead!
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
OF Ji-Hwan Bae (AAA): 2-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, 2 R
3B Christian Arroyo (AAA): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, 2 R
OF Cristian Pache (AAA): 2-for-5, 2 RBI, R
BOX SCORE
Triple-A SYR | The rest of the Minor League season starts on April 2, 3
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (2-1) vs. Cardinals (2-1)
Where: Busch Stadium – St. Louis, MO
Starters: RHP Clay Holmes vs. RHP Kyle Leahy
When: 7:45 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
The Mets are pitching well, but they’re not RISP’ing, again! ✍️
Well, if you were hoping Saturday’s offensive blackout was attributed to poor weather conditions, I have some bad news for you.
The weather was a lot better at Citi Field on Sunday, but the offense continued to be a no-show, epitomized by Bo Bichette’s 0-for-5, three-strikeout day at the plate. All day long, the Mets had their chances to score, but all day long, they were just unable to string together quality at-bats with runners on base, seemingly striking out in most every run-scoring opportunity right from the beginning.
Overall, the club struck out 16 times on the day, which is not exactly the brand of baseball this group is supposed to be. They struck out eight times on Saturday, and between Saturday and Sunday, they went a combined 5-for-24 with runners in scoring position with 17 runners left on-base and 24 strikeouts with seven runs scored in their last 21 offensive innings.
That’s just too swing-and-miss. Way too swing-and-miss.
That’s not to say it was all bad, of course. And, the Mets did win their first series of the year, which is a good thing.
Luis Robert Jr. continued his strong start, as did Brett Baty. Juan Soto and Francisco Lindor each notched multi-hit afternoons, and in fairness, if not for an unadvised send by third base coach Tim Leiper of Lindor on Soto’s tenth-inning double with nobody out, maybe we are singing a different tune for this loss despite the inconsistencies from the offense.
The point is, inclusive of that mistake by Leiper for sending Lindor, the Mets had their chances on Sunday. I get the need to be aggressive, but it’s just not a good idea to send the runner in that situation with nobody out and trailing by a run with the middle of the order coming up. It changed the entire complexion of the inning and perhaps the outcome of the game.
Those things are going to happen, of course, and it can easily be argued the game shouldn’t have come down to that play, considering their overall ineffectiveness with runners in scoring position on the afternoon.
The game was put into the hands of journeyman LHP Richard Lovelady in the tenth inning, who was working his second straight game following a 21-pitch outing on Saturday afternoon. Mets Manager Carlos Mendoza said both Devin Williams and Brooks Raley were unavailable on Sunday, leaving the bullpen short and left to Lovelady to negotiate, or not. He clearly ran out of gas with two outs in the inning, but Mendoza pretty much said there was nobody else to turn to in that situation, which would explain why nobody was warming up behind Lovelady. It was an unfair situation to put him in for sure, but with the Mets shorthanded in the bullpen, at least the need to have Lovelady wear that inning was explainable.
But again, the game shouldn’t have come down to Lovelady’s appearance in the tenth inning, given their overall ineffectiveness with runners in scoring position.
It was a frustrating couple of days for the Mets offense. Bichette specifically admitted in the clubhouse he is out of his own game, trying to do too much and trying to give the fans a moment. He’s going to be fine - he isn’t the first player to come to this club, try and do too much and underperform. He has struck out in more than half of his at-bats so far in 2026, and this is a player whose offense is defined by an ability to make contact. So, I am sure he is going to be fine - this road trip might be exactly what he needs to get back into his element at the plate. He has stranded five runners in scoring position and is 1-for-10 with five strikeouts over his last two games. He needs to just take a deep breath away from Citi Field and get back to what makes him one of the best pure hitters in the game.
“I definitely felt that wanting to have a moment, not only for my teammates but for the fans and everything,” Bichette said after the loss. “It’s just something that I have to manage.”
He jokingly said he was surprised the fans didn’t boo him sooner. Frankly, I don’t think any of that helps, especially a newbie in New York. But I am not in the business of telling people what to do when they spend money to see highly paid athletes.
His defense at third is probably more of a problem than a rough string of ten at-bats. He wasn’t exactly a gold glover at shortstop to begin with, and now he’s being asked to learn a new position on the fly. These are expected growing pains, but it will be a concern until it isn’t. The same can be said for Jorge Polanco at first, but third base is a much higher leverage position than first.
We will see how this story goes.
As for the pitching, they looked fine for the bulk of this series. Yeah, Freddy Peralta’s line wasn’t pretty but that line boiled down to two bad pitches to Brandon Lowe. The bullpen was great over their first three games. They allowed one earned run in 5 IP on Sunday, four earned runs in 14.2 IP in the series. They got a good start from David Peterson on Saturday and a gritty start from Nolan McLean on Sunday, who was a little off with his command but was able to make out pitches when he needed to over his five innings of work against Pittsburgh.
I actually like those outings the most for starting pitchers, especially the younger ones who are learning on the job at this level. For McLean specifically, his curveball was wicked and very swing-and-miss for him, as was his change-up. Those two pitchers helped him navigate some poor location with his fastball at times. But, all-in-all, it’s hard to complain about his first outing of the season. He’s going to have those dominant starts - it’s just how his stuff plays. It’s how he handles days like Sunday when he doesn’t necessarily have that crisp command and has to find a way which will define his season.
Then of course there’s Sean Manaea, who made his 2026 debut out of the bullpen on Sunday and all the talk was around his velocity, which averaged 88.7 mph on his fastball with a 75.5 mph average velocity on his sweeper.
I keep saying all the Mets need from Manaea is something in between what he was in the second half of 2024, and what he was in 2025. He keeps saying the velocity is going to come and he isn’t concerned, but obviously, the Mets were concerned enough about it to put him in the bullpen and limit his exposure. In the end, he needs to get outs, and he did in a high-leverage spot late in the game, even though he only induced four swings-and-misses in the 29 pitches he threw.
If that means his job is to give the Mets one time through the order in middle relief outings, fine. If that means he can only face three batters, fine. If that role allows him to provide value, fine. The Mets can’t and clearly aren’t putting his salary above the name on the front of the jersey right now - they’re just trying to figure out what he is and what he can provide at this point in his career.
So, the Mets are on the road now for their first of four trips to the West Coast over the next five weeks. They’ll stop in St. Louis for three before heading to San Francisco next weekend. The series against the rebuilding Cardinals is one they just have to take. The Giants are hard to read - they just got swept by the Yankees, but they’re going to have to deal with Logan Webb at the tail end of their trip in San Francisco, so they’ll have their work cut out for them, and they can bet he won’t look the way he did against the Yankees on Opening Day.
And, it’s a trip out west, which never seems to be easy for the Mets.
Around the League 🚩
Two overturned calls via the ABS helped the Orioles to an 8-6 win over the Twins - RHP Ryan Helsley recorded his second save of the season on Sunday
The Brewers scored six runs in the eighth inning to rally and beat the White Sox, 9-7
The Marlins rallied in the ninth for two runs to walk-off the Rockies with a 4-3 win – they are 3-0 for the first time since 2009
Rangers RHP Jacob deGrom hopes to pitch for Texas this week after being scratched from his first start with a stiff neck (ESPN)
At what point did it become considered unmanly to know how to bunt or execute a squeeze play?
That the Mets supposedly were "shorthanded in the bullpen" in Game 3 of the season is preposterous.