The Mets lost 3-2 to the Washington Nationals on Sunday at Citi Field, and in doing so, also lost the series 2-1 against a team with a record of 64-92, the second-worst in the National League.
On Sunday the Mets fell behind 3-0 in the second inning and couldn’t put together a comeback against the pitching staff with a 5.33 ERA, the second-worst in the majors.
Here are the takeaways...
-- The blame for the loss has to fall mainly on the offense, but maybe the Mets should have stayed with what worked last time regarding their piggybacking plan.
They flip-flopped Sean Manaea and Clay Holmes, opting to start Manaea because of the Nationals’ lefty hitters at the top of the lineup, and it backfired. The left-hander gave up three runs in the second inning, two on light-hitting Nasim Nuñez’s home run to left field.
Overall Manaea didn’t look sharp, and Carlos Mendoza was quick to pull him with no outs in the fourth when Robert Hassell reached on Pete Alonso’s error at 1B. For the day, Manaea threw only 50 pitches, allowing four hits and no walks, while striking out three.
It had to be disappointing for the Mets because Manaea had given reason to believe he’d turned a corner of sorts, pitching well after his talk in the tunnel two starts ago with Mendoza.
Holmes did pitch well as the back half of the piggyback plan, throwing 3 2/3 scoreless innings.
-- There was plenty of reason to think the Mets’ offense would have a big day. Starter Jake Irvin has been one of the worst pitchers in baseball in recent weeks, at least statistically. In his seven previous starts before Sunday he had a 9.36 ERA, having given up 34 earned runs. He also had a road ERA for the season of 6.15.
And though Irvin had pitched well against the Mets in D.C., he was 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA at Citi Field. Yet the Mets managed only two runs against the right-hander in 5 1/3 innings.
Even so, the Nationals needed 11 outs from their bullpen, which started the day with worst bullpen ERA in the majors, at 5.60.
-- The Mets made all sorts of mistakes early that contributed to falling behind.
In the first inning, Juan Soto was picked off first as he tried to get an early running start on a steal attempt. In the second, Francisco Lindor made a bad throw that contributed to the Nationals’ three-run rally.
In the third, lack of awareness on the bases by Cedric Mullins proved costly. With Luis Torrens on second, Mullins’ fly ball down the line at first appeared to be caught by left fielder Daylen Lile going into the wall, but the ball fell out of his glove as he hit the ground. The ball was in plain sight on the ground, as Lile writhed in pain from a knee injury, and Torrens came around to score.
However, Mullins stood near first base, seemingly thinking the ball had been caught, even while watching Torrens score. He only ran to second when teammates yelled at him from the dugout, and by then umpires he called timeout due to Lile’s injury. Had he kept running he would have been allowed to stay at second, and that proved costly when he was doubled off first base on Lindor’s line drive to Josh Bell. It looked worse when Soto followed with a double to the right field corner.
In addition, Alonso made an error on a routine ground ball in the fourth inning, and though it didn’t cost the Mets a run, it continued their trend in recent days of playing sloppy baseball.
Game MVP: Nasim Nuñez
The Nationals’ backup shortstop came into the game hitting .185 with two career home runs in 151 plate appearances, but he hammered a fastball from Manaea over the left field wall for an early 3-0 lead that stood up.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets head to Chicago for a crucial three-game series with the Cubs on Tuesday at 7:40 p.m. on SNY.
David Peterson (9-6, 3.98 ERA) is scheduled to start against Cade Horton (11-4, 2.66 ERA).
