Met bats stay cold as Schwarber blasts three for Nationals 5 2
Not even the 90-degree heat in the nation’s capital could thaw the Mets’ ice-covered bats.
The Mets collected just nine runs and 21 hits in the four-game series at Nationals Park over the weekend, culminating in a 5-2 loss to the Nationals in the finale on Sunday. They went 1-3, winning just Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader thanks to Francisco Lindor’s 5 RBI game, and they headed back home following a dispiriting matchup against their division rivals.
Even though the Amazin’s have sat atop the
NL East since May
8, their next 12 consecutive games come against teams in their division. The Mets have the chance to expand their first-place lead, or allow the Phillies and Braves to decrease the gap.
“This is definitely a tough stretch of our schedule with the amount of doubleheaders,” Kevin Pillar said. “We’re just going to keep fighting. We didn’t play our best baseball here, but I don’t think we played our worst.”
Pillar added on the competition in the NL East: “It’s going to be a dog fight right up to the very last series (of the year) in Atlanta.”
Their schedule and competition only become more demanding when the Mets (36-29) return to Citi Field. Tonight will begin with a doubleheader against the thirdplace Braves — though the Mets should find some solace in the fact Atlanta also played a late-night doubleheader against the Cardinals on Sunday. And if Jacob deGrom (right shoulder soreness) is a go for the series opener (and all signs point to him making the start) the Amazin’s chances of shutting down the Braves only increase.
But that only leads us back to the subject of run support.
The return of Jeff McNeil (strained left hamstring) on Monday should help spark what has been a monotonous Mets lineup of late. Look no further than Jose Peraza leading off against
Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin on Sunday to understand the state of the Mets offense. Peraza went 0-for-3 with a strikeout against Corbin, as the southpaw retired 10 consecutive batters in a stretch of yawn-worthy at-bats from the Mets.
“We should see McNeil potentially activated (today),” manager Luis Rojas said. “Whether that’s Game 1, or I don’t know if we’re going to do only Game 2.”
Pete Alonso and Pillar crushed solo home runs in the series finale. The pop helped keep the Mets afloat, but the inconsistency of their hitters ultimately drowned them in Washington. The Mets made it obvious why they have scored the second-lowest runs per game this season on an afternoon when their starting pitcher wasn’t on his A-game. Sunday was hardly Taijuan Walker’s best performance of the year, but he gritted his way through 6.1 innings on an afternoon when a taxed Met bullpen needed length from their starter.
Walker saw his ERA jump .30 points to 2.42 after he gave up 10 hits, his most allowed this season, to a Nationals team trying to crawl out of fourth place in the NL East. To that end, left fielder Kyle Schwarber led the charge. Schwarber enjoyed a three-homer day — two off Walker and another against Jeurys Familia in the seventh. He crushed the Mets for five home runs through the weekend series.
“That third at-bat, I have to tip my cap to him,” Walker said of Schwarber’s second homer off him. “I thought it was a pretty good fastball. He’s just locked in right now.”
Walker particularly struggled in the beginning of the afternoon, giving up four hits to the first eight batters he faced. After the first inning that saw the Nationals spring ahead to a one-run lead, Walker went into the Mets dugout and had a trainer put an ice towel over his neck.
“It was one of these days,” Walker said. “It was hot and I had to grind today. Tried to get as deep as possible.”