Francisco Lindor, Mets talk forgettable road trip: 'I still believe in what we have'
Wednesday afternoon’s 6-3 loss to the Cleveland Guardians was another demoralizing blow to a Mets team that now finds themselves seven games under .500 at 21-28.
A 3-0 lead in the sixth inning quickly turned into a 6-3 loss, as Cleveland scored three in the sixth to tie it, then added the go-ahead run in the seventh, and two insurance runs in the eighth.
The Guardians completed a three-game sweep, capping off a disappointing 2-6 road trip for the Mets.
“It doesn’t feel good,” said a bewildered Francisco Lindor after the game. “It’s one of those that, you just gotta learn from it and move on. We’ve gotta find a way to play better.”
“I don’t think you make sense of it, you just call it what it is, and we’re struggling right now,” said Brandon Nimmo. “That’s going to happen in baseball. Hats off to the Guardians, they played a really, really good series and took advantage of pitches over the middle of the plate and mistakes in the field and were able to win ballgames. They’re playing well right now, and yeah, we just got beat.”
“We’re playing to try and win every game. Right now, it’s not working out,” Nimmo added. “It’s up to us to find other ways to get it done. Right now, we’re getting beat. That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
The series in Cleveland felt like a microcosm of the Mets’ season, with the team seemingly being unable to match up good starting pitching with a hot offense and a consistent bullpen. Even players who have been very good for the Mets this year, like reliever Reed Garrett, had a rough go of it at one point or another on the road trip, with Garrett allowing the go-ahead run on a pair of hits and walk on Wednesday.
“I feel like right now, as a collective unit, anything that could go wrong has gone wrong,” Garrett said. “I think once everything starts rolling our way, it will be a lot different In here.”
Even with the Mets struggling mightily at the moment, the calendar still reads May, and there’s a lot of baseball left to go.
But as Lindor told reporters on Wednesday, the Mets need to find a way to start playing better, and he believes the right people are in place to do so.
“I believe in this team. I believe in what we have. We just have to play better, bottom line,” said Lindor, who had a pair of multi-hit games in this series. “We have to play better. I have to play better. I have to be a better shortstop, a better offensive play, a better base-runner. I’ve got to improve in every aspect of the game, and I’ve got to continue to push the envelope and continue to push the guys before.
“With that being said, I still believe in what we have. I still believe that we have a great group of guys and that we can play the game. We’ve just got to play the game the right way and minimize our mistakes.”
The Mets have a day off to regroup on Thursday before starting a nine-game homestand on Friday night against the San Francisco Giants.
