TROUBLE FEATURE
Conforto, Flores sinking at plate
Yoenis Cespedes was back to providing an MVPcaliber bat Saturday, but two of the Mets’ hottest bats in his absence have disappeared since his return from a hamstring injury.
While Cespedes went 4for-5 with a home run in Saturday’s 7-4 loss to the Nationals at Citi Field, Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto continued to struggle, with each failing to capitalize on multiple opportunities with runners in scoring position.
“[Stephen Strasburg] wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen him, [but] a lot of big double plays took us out of innings,” manager Terry Collins said.
After two straight losses, the Mets could have taken an early lead, but Flores opened with an inningending double play in the first frame.
In the fourth, Cespedes and Jay Bruce were at the corners, but Flores killed another potential rally with another double play. Then, in the same exact situation in the sixth, Flores hit a fly ball to right, with Cespedes barely beating Bryce Harper’s throw from right field to home. Flores later singled, with no one on base.
Flores, who was batting as high as .333 on June 10, is hitting 3-for-23 over his past five games, and just .200 (7-for-25) with runners in scoring position this season. He also handed Washington an unearned run in the fourth inning with a throwing error on what would have been the third out.
“We got to get some big hits early in the game,” Collins said. “We’re getting way behind, and it’s tough to catch up, especially when you’re facing that type of pitching.”
Conforto went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts, putting his average at .174 (12for-69) over his past 20 games. The 24-year-old, who was left out of the starting lineup in four games this week due to back discomfort, struck out to end the fifth inning, with a runner on second, and then was unable to drive in Jose Reyes from third in the seventh.
After nine straight atbats without a hit, Con- forto singled on a bloop fly to left in the ninth.
Before the game, Collins said Conforto had been trying to pull the ball too much recently — a symptom of the slump that resulted in him being demoted to Triple-A last season. He made some adjustments with hitting coach Kevin Long this week, with his average now down to .284, after being at .341 on May 24.
“He has played so well and he’s hit the ball so well, to continue that pace, it’s pretty hard,” Collins said. “I’m just really glad Michael’s done what he’s done, and that he contin- ues to work at it. You’re gonna have some downs, and when he gets hot again, he’ll get it going again. I have all the confidence in the world, this guy is not changing anything. He’s gonna continue to show us what he did earlier in the year.”