Mets’ offensive floundering continues in loss to Padres
In a flashback to when the teams played last October in the NL wild-card series, the Mets were reduced to meek observers at the plate Tuesday night by the Padres.
Five hits, none for extra bases, wasn’t going to accomplish much. Credit lefty Ryan Weathers and the San Diego bullpen, but this is also a Mets team that entered the night among the bottom third of MLB clubs in many key offensive categories, with a .218 team batting average that was last in the National League a particular eyesore.
The Mets didn’t deliver a hit with a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning and played the role of fire hydrant in losing 4-2 to the Padres on “Bark in the Park” night at Citi Field.
The eighth inning was the Mets’ first shot at redemption, but with two runners on base, Francisco Lindor struck out after hitting a loud foul ball into the right-field porch. In the ninth, Josh Hader allowed an RBI single to Tommy Pham, but struck out Francisco Alvarez with runners on second and third to end it.
Hader threw seven straight sinkers in the 96-97 mph range to Alvarez, who said he was looking for heat in that situation. Only one of the three pitches at which the rookie swung was in the strike zone.
“I just have to wait on my pitches,” Alvarez said.
The expectation is he will use his at-bat against Hader as a learning experience.
“He’s a good player and is going to be,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He will learn from it and get better the next time in those situations. But he can be completely in a different mode of operation and still have trouble with a guy like [Hader]. … He’s got the skills to make the adjustment.”
Six walks helped the Mets apply pressure on the Padres, but hard contact was absent from their arsenal. Pham’s single in the ninth was the Mets’ only hit after the fourth inning.
“They are deep in their rotation,” Showalter said. “That is why they are able to go with six [starters].”
The bright side for the Mets (6-6) is they can still secure a winning homestand with a victory Wednesday afternoon in the series finale.
The Mets trailed just 2-1 heading into the ninth inning before Dennis Santana surrendered a two-run homer to Xander Bogaerts that gave the Padres a cushion.
David Peterson kept the Mets in the game by allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks with six strikeouts over 5 ²/₃ innings. The left-hander, who averaged 94 mph with his four-seam fastball — an uptick from his previous starts this season — was removed after 89 pitches.
Peterson came within one pitch of escaping trouble in the fifth, but Manny Machado jumped on a 2-2 slider and placed it just inside the foul line behind third base for a two-run double that gave the Padres a 2-1 lead.
“I thought it was the right pitch in the right spot,” Peterson said. “I didn’t put in the spot I wanted. [Machado] gets paid the big bucks for a reason.”
The Padres enjoyed hard contact against Peterson in the inning. Luis Campusano blasted a single at 98.5 mph off the bat to begin the inning and Brandon Dixon smashed a shot through the third base hole for a single at 107.2 mph. Peterson then retired Bogaerts on a grounder that Alonso turned into the second out, but Machado delivered.
Lindor’s leadoff single in the fourth led to the Mets taking a 1-0 lead on Mark Canha’s sacrifice fly. Alonso singled in the inning and was picked off first by Weathers.
The Mets’ most frustrating inning might have been the first, when they loaded the bases with nobody out on a Starling Marte bunt single sandwiched between two walks. But Alonso struck out before Canha hit into a double play.
“We needed five runs tonight and we weren’t able to get them,” Showalter said. “We had the opportunity, not just the first inning … there were some at-bats that fell for people other than Alvarez [in the ninth], so it’s a tribute to their pitching.”
