Mets Offense Struggles Again in 3-1 Loss to A’s

It’s early, and it’s only been 14 games, but the New York Mets’ offense has struggled with runners in scoring positions to begin the season, and it showed again in Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Athletics. Facing a young pitcher and former Mets’ prospect, J.T. Ginn, the Mets offense had no answer for him. While starter David Peterson went 6 solid innings, he didn’t get the usual run support he’s accustomed to. 

Mets Offense Continues to Struggle  

It’s no secret now; this Mets offense is inept with runners in scoring position. Even on Friday, when the Mets scored seven runs, they still went 2-for-14 in that scenario. They are especially bad at it with two-outs, as they are 4-for-48 with runners in scoring position with two-outs. On Saturday, it continued. The offense went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position on Saturday and left eight men on base. The only run of the game came on a Brandon Nimmo solo home run in the top of the 6th inning to cut the A’s lead to 2-1. Ginn dominated them with six strikeouts and befuddled New York’s offense with his sharp sinker. 

The key to a good offensive baseball team is taking advantage with runners on base. It doesn’t help that Pete Alonso is the only one in the lineup who’s really on a roll, but even he struck out three times on this day, and each of those came with runners on base. Leaving runners on base at the rate the Mets are doing is simply not sustainable, even with their record. 

David Peterson Goes 6 Innings

It’s been hard-pressed for the Mets’ starting pitching to go six innings or more this season. Peterson was able to reach it on Saturday and struck out five. However, even though he did okay in general and got a tough loss because the offense struggled, he was hit up a bit. He gave up 7 hits, and in the 4th inning against the second time around the A’s order, he struggled. The A’s were aggressive at the plate. They knocked in two runs on four hits in the inning to grab a 2-0 lead. 

Since Peterson pitches to contact, he is mostly effective when he gets opposing offenses to hit a ton of ground balls. This young Athletics offense took advantage of that and was able to get to him in the 4th. Despite that, Peterson still kept the Mets in the game and had a quality outing. 

Jose Siri Leaves Game With Knee Contusion

On the injury front, the Mets lost one of their center fielders as Jose Siri had to leave the game after fouling a pitch off his shin. Tyrone Taylor came to the game in his place. The Mets announced that Siri is day-to-day with a left shin contusion. 

Player Of The Game: Brandon Nimmo

In the 6th inning, Nimmo smashed a solo home run to provide the Mets with their only form of offense on the day.

On Deck

On Sunday, the Mets will send Kodai Senga to the mound to take on an old friend in Luis Severino. The game will be telecast locally on WPIX at 4:05 pm EDT and broadcast on Audacy Mets Radio, WHSQ 880 AM.

 

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