The Washington Nationals defeated the New York Mets yesterday by a score of 9-3 to bring the Amazins’ record to 67-60, which gives them only a half-game lead over the 67-61 Cincinnati Reds for the National League’s third Wild Card spot. In their last 21 games, the Mets have just five victories.
“It starts with our starters, you know? Starting pitching; they set the tone. When they go, the whole team pretty much goes,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza after the disappointing loss. “It’s been hard for these guys the past two months, basically. Dealing with injuries, getting guys back. But at this point, with everybody pretty much healthy, we need to be better.”
Mendoza mentioned the Mets’ starting pitchers the last two days, Sean Manaea and Kodai Senga, as players who need to step up during the dog days of summer. Unfortunately for New York, Senga and Manaea gave up eight combined earned runs on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We need to be better, and they know that. Talking about Senga, Manaea tonight,” Mendoza explained. “We need those guys, and they know they’re capable of giving us a chance to win baseball games. And right now, we’re not doing that. So, it’s frustrating. They are frustrated.”
Sean Manaea actually had a good start to the game, allowing one hit through the first three innings. But things took a turn when he allowed the Nats to score a run in the fourth inning. That might’ve affected his psyche because he gave up another run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Mets’ lead to 3-2.
“[I] just lost feel for my sweeper right there,” Manaea told reporters after the game. “Then just lost control of my fastball at the end there, too.”
Manaea was replaced by Tyler Rogers in the fifth inning. Though he was able to get the last out, that didn’t stop the Nats from scoring two more runs to take a 4-3 lead.
“That fourth inning, leadoff single, and then we didn’t make a play on that bunt,” Mendoza said. “And then he hits (CJ) Abrams. Sac fly and then, we’re one out away from getting out of it, and just ended up walking (Andrés) Chaparro there. Yeah, I think he’s just kind of lost that a little bit there.”
Things didn’t get any better for the Mets after the fifth inning. In the sixth, the Nats scored on a one-run single to go up 5-3. Then, in the eighth inning, Washington scored four more runs, thanks in part to a three-run homer by James Wood.
“I mean, the issue is we lost some games. That is all,” Juan Soto said. “Gotta figure out a way how to win games and go as a team, as a group, and try to figure out, one way or the other, to win the game.”
With the end of August quickly approaching, the Mets only have 35 more regular-season games left to right the ship. That’ll be tough considering the Amazins are 5-13 this month.
“We got to get going. We got to see results,” Mendoza said. “We’ve seen it from this group, especially from the guys that I mentioned. [It] starts right there. We don’t have much time left, so we just got to play better.”
“[It] ain’t late, but it ain’t early neither,” said Juan Soto. “We have to win today. We don’t have to be focused on what is going to happen in the future or what happened in the past. We got to focus on what we can do today.”
Today, the Mets can turn things around and snap their two-game losing streak against the Atlanta Braves. The first pitch in that contest is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. EDT.
