Mets will need offense to step up to snap losing streak

New York Times

5 hours ago

ATLANTA — Before this week, the New York Mets' last memory of the visiting clubhouse at Truist Park was of revelry — of Freixenet and Coors Light and of demons exorcised in unforgettable fashion. And so the quiet in that clubhouse Thursday night, as players sat expressionless at their lockers, looking down at their phones, felt all the more conspicuous.
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The Mets' malaise stretched into a second straight series sweep, this time a more demoralizing one to the division rival Atlanta Braves. New York's sixth straight loss came in a 7-1 rout, done in by a pitching staff that issued nine walks and a lineup that went 1-for-22 to close the game.
'These are good teams,' Brandon Nimmo said, 'and you need to play good baseball to beat them.'
The Mets have not been playing good baseball over the past week. Manager Carlos Mendoza pointed to the starting rotation as a primary culprit: New York's starters, the strength of the roster until this point, have allowed 19 earned runs in 24 1/3 innings during the streak.
But while the rotation might be a cause of the losing streak, the solution resides elsewhere.
It's time for the Mets offense to step up.
1️⃣,0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ career hits for @JuanSoto25_! pic.twitter.com/BkohyJ4zLI
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 19, 2025
That's the way the Mets were built — for an elite offense to carry a pitching staff whose job was to keep it in games. Over nearly half the season, it has played out the other way, with New York's hurlers exceeding every expectation and shouldering the load in a 45-30 start.
But that pitching staff is reeling and will be for at least a couple more weeks. It has lost Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill for at least the next month. Though Frankie Montas is returning next week, it's with a boatload of questions fueled by a 12-plus ERA over six rehab starts. The Mets will look to rookie Blade Tidwell on Friday in Philadelphia opposite Zack Wheeler.
And the offense is in one of its worst slumps of the season. Over the past six games, New York's lineup is hitting .204 with a .279 on-base percentage, .289 slugging percentage and .568 OPS. Pretty much everyone outside of Starling Marte and Tyrone Taylor is going through it. Francisco Lindor is hitting .136, Ronny Mauricio .150, Juan Soto and Jeff McNeil .190 in that stretch.
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'It starts with smaller thinking,' Nimmo said. 'You can't try to do it all at once. You try to win the battles you control. That's where you start, and you go from there.'
Yes, part of that is the terrific starting pitching the Mets are facing nightly. Unfortunately, that's not going to change soon. After getting Spencer Schwellenbach, Chris Sale and Spencer Strider at Truist Park this week, they'll see Wheeler and Jesús Luzardo (around promising rookie Mick Abel) in Philadelphia this weekend. They're in line to see Sale and Strider again next week. (They should miss Paul Skenes in Pittsburgh, for what that's worth.)
'That's the ultimate test,' co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said. 'We're going to see what plays out over the next little bit and how we respond to it. From that, we'll make adjustments.'
'We've just got to be able to dictate the at-bats,' Mendoza said before Thursday's loss. 'These guys are not only good, but they're going to attack. We've got to be able to attack them, too.'
How do you dictate the at-bat against a pitcher with, say, Sale's stuff?
'We have to be aggressive,' Mendoza said. 'When he's coming in the zone, we've got to be able to put pressure on him. They are who they are, but we also know we're a good offensive team, too. We've got a lot of good hitters here.'
The Mets did that for about a dozen batters Thursday against Strider. Five of those 12 reached, and even the outs were hard-hit. In the next dozen hitters against Strider, only four put the ball in play (one walk, seven strikeouts). Strider got ahead 0-2 on four of those seven strikeouts.
That was a theme of the series. Of New York's 18 total hits, 11 came in the first three innings. In three games, the Mets generated five at-bats with a runner in scoring position after the third inning — three of which came when they were handed a ghost runner on second in Friday's 10th inning.
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'We've had a few bad games, but I don't think our offense is terrible the last few games,' Nimmo said. 'I think it's right around the corner.'
It better be. This lineup was constructed to be the club's foundation. Just check out the level of investment. New York's top six hitters Thursday night are making $163.5 million this season combined. Their six regular starting pitchers so far this season? They're making $41.9 million.
And so it's time for the offense to come out and beat a strong starter. It's time to win a game in which their own starter doesn't have it. The Mets have allowed as many as five runs in a game 17 times since the end of April; they've won only one of those games (against the historically bad Colorado Rockies, of course).
It's time for the offense to carry the load.
(Photo of Juan Soto reacting after an eighth-inning strikeout: Brett Davis / Imagn Images)