Time for change as RISP woes continue to haunt Mets in loss to Chicago
How can the Mets solve their one fatal flaw?
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets laid an egg in the series finale against the White Sox, losing 9-4 at Citi Field (box)
RHP Griffin Canning endured a nightmare outing on the mound, lasting just three innings and allowing five runs - three earned - on four hits and four walks with three strikeouts
LHP Brandon Waddell provided a much-needed five innings out of the bullpen, but gave up four earned runs on seven hits and one walk with three strikeouts
DH Mark Vientos hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the third on what was another quiet day for the offense
OF Brandon Nimmo reached base four times and scored New York’s fourth run of the day on 1B Pete Alonso’s RBI double in the ninth
The Mets again struggled with RISP, going 2-for-12 and leaving 11 runners stranded on base. They also recorded a total of five hits all game
Roster Moves 📰
OF José Azocar has elected free agency after being designated for assignment
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Paul Blackburn (knee inflammation) allowed two earned runs on four hits and two walks with four strikeouts over 6.1 innings in his latest rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday
Play of the Game 🙃
In the top of the first, with two runners on and one out, Griffin Canning gave up an RBI single to Andrew Benintendi. The knock scored two and really set the tone for the day.
Now, giving up two runs in the first may not seem like that big of a deal, but Canning never had it on Wednesday and he never recovered. The White Sox struck early and, with the Mets struggling offensively, never looked back.
Canning gave a bad Chicago team too much of a head-start, and it all started in the first inning with Benintendi’s two-run single.
Who’s Cold? 🥶
RF Juan Soto went 0-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout on Wednesday, and is now 2-for-27 in his past seven games. His batting average has now dropped to .224 on the year
SS Francisco Lindor went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts in the series finale, and is now hitting just .167/.263/.292/.555 over his last 12 games
The Mets are now hitting just .211 with RISP - the fourth-worst mark in MLB and the worst-mark in the National League
RHP Griffin Canning has now allowed a total of eight earned runs on 12 hits and nine walks across 10.3 innings in his last three starts
Down on the Farm 🌾
2B Ronny Mauricio (No. 9 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-3, 2 R, 1 SB
OF A.J. Ewing (No. 27 prospect, High-A): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SB
3B Colin Houck (No. 30 prospect, Single-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 2 HR
RF Simon Juan (Single-A): 1-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Triple-A SYR (GM 1 | GM 2)
Today’s Game 🗓️
The Mets are off on Thursday and will be back in action on Friday when they open up a three-game series against the Rockies at Citi Field.
The one fatal flaw that needs fixing now…✍️
The Mets just didn’t have it on Wednesday.
And I don’t want to hear the “they were doomed from the start because the game got bumped up” narrative, either.
With all due respect to the White Sox— who are an ever-so-slightly improved team on the absolute stinking dumpster fire roster that set records for being bad in 2024— the Mets should be taking care of business of such patsies on the schedule and going for the sweep.
Given how good the Phillies are— and how good the Braves will be— New York needs to be sweeping series against lesser opposition and against teams under .500.
Of course, the Mets will have the opportunity to fatten up the win column a little bit more with the Rockies arriving in town on Friday. But the reason Wednesday’s series finale loss to the White Sox was so maddening was because we saw the same old fatal flaws rear their ugly head once again.
Yes, it didn’t help that Griffin Canning could only last three innings while allowing five runs on four hits and four walks. And, while Brandon Waddell did do the bullpen a huge favor by pitching five innings, the lefty still contributed to a bad afternoon by giving up four runs on seven hits.
However, the biggest driving force behind an embarrassing loss to an 18-38 White Sox team was the offense.
Again, the team’s big three hitters— aside from a Pete Alonso RBI double in the ninth— failed to play to the back of their baseball cards. And, again, the entire offense stunk with runners in scoring position.
Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto, and Alonso went a combined 1-for-13 with one double, one walk, and five strikeouts. Lindor finished 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Soto did treat the Citi Field crowd to back-to-back Soto shuffles, but still struck out once and produced a series of uninspiring at-bats. Alonso finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout, but did drive in a run.
But, again, the biggest cause for concern was the continuing failures with runners in scoring position. The Mets went 2-for-12 with RISP, leaving 11 runners on base. And failing to cash in with runners in scoring position was the constant theme of this series against what is still a very bad White Sox team.
Focusing on the finale, though, the Mets walked a total of eight times, including five times in the first 3.2 innings of the game. Yet, aside from Mark Vientos’ three-run blast in the third, this lineup just couldn’t take advantage of all the traffic they put on the basepaths. Again.
Therefore, it begs the question…
Is it time for something to change with this offense?
I noticed a lot of comments on social media calling for the head of Eric Chavez, the Mets’ hitting coach, in the wake of Wednesday’s game. Now, I’m always reluctant to advocate for anyone to lose their jobs, and I’m not sure I want to add to the social media noise on this occasion. Especially when you consider that Chavez was the hitting coach in 2022 when the Mets hit .269/.347/.441/.788 with RISP.
However, the counter-argument to that is the fact that the 2025 lineup is arguably more talented than the 2022 lineup, not to mention the fact that the issue with runners in scoring position this year is only getting worse over time, not better.
For instance, prior to Tuesday’s game, the Mets were 38-for-202 (.188) with RISP in their last 24 games. Those numbers will be even uglier in the wake of what went down in the finale.
Furthermore, Chavez has already staged a couple of meetings with his offense about correcting their clutch hitting with runners on, including one prior to Tuesday’s game. All of that talking doesn’t seem to be working, though. Heck, we saw plenty of evidence to back that up on Wednesday.
Firing Chavez would be the easiest option given that there aren’t a lot of changes the front office can make to the lineup until closer to the Trade Deadline. But even then, I’m not sure a couple of additions to the offense would make all that much of a difference. Plus, if the Mets are still struggling to get the job done with RISP deep into the summer, they may have bigger problems to contend with.
At some point, the players also have to take some responsibility. After all, they are the ones who have to go out there and execute. And they just aren’t. Soto is hitting just .130 with runners in scoring position. Lindor is batting just .180 in the same situations. And Vientos, despite his home run with runners on in the finale, is still hitting just .146 with RISP.
Chavez has to be held accountable for what’s going wrong with this offense right now. But so do the players, who should be performing way better than they are with runners on.
Enough games have now been played where the runners in scoring position problem is real and it is legitimate. It can’t be brushed under the carpet anymore.
Sure, it hasn’t become an even bigger concern due to the fact that the Mets have won a lot of games and own a 34-22 record. But, at some point, the pitching will regress and more games will be lost unless this offense can figure out how to come up big in clutch spots with runners on.
When you also consider that New York has the lowest OPS in the National League over the past 15 days - with the team 7-7 over that stretch - it is even more paramount that the Mets right the ship with RISP. Home runs are important, but so is stringing together a bunch of hits in a row in order to score runs, especially when the power isn’t there.
With the Phillies surging, the Braves back to full health and likely to get better, the Mets face a daunting challenge in their own division, let alone in the National League.
As such, something needs to be done about the troubling runners in scoring position issue that has haunted this team. And it needs to be done before it is too late.
Be it coaching, further lineup changes or players just waking up and actually performing to the back of their baseball cards, something has got to give before the failure to execute with RISP really starts to take its toll and starts to seriously impact what should be a year full of postseason promise.
Something needs to change, and fast.
Around the League 🚩
RHP Paul Skenes threw 6 2/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and no walks as the Pirates beat the Diamondbacks, 10-1
OF Pete Crow-Armstrong recorded his 50th RBI of the year and hit a home run as the Cubs beat the Rockies, 2-1
CF Ángel Martínez hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth to help the Guardians come back and beat the Dodgers, 7-4
RHP Lance McCullers Jr. struckout 12 hitters in six innings to help the Astros beat the A’s, 5-3
Adjusting how they hit the ball to advance runners isn't a thing they do. They swing the same way whether runners on or not. Videos of teams that advance runners would help? If capable, simply bunting players over could help. No one bunts anymore. Or is this just who the Mets are. Alvarez, Marte and O'Neill are rally Killers now.
It’s time for some change or there wont be enough time. Even the also ran WC will be a battle this year. Without Soto and Lindor catching fire, all is lost. But others need better production or all is lost too. I don’t know where you fit Mauricio but you have to; Mets could be an also-ran too before you know it. Please no Homer “it’s early” and force people to take receipts. You stink-until you don’t; you’re good-until you’re not. Right now, they’re mediocre-until they’re not. We’ve seen this movie before