Mets takeaways from Wednesday's 4-1 loss to Nationals, including dormant offense once again
The Mets lost their fourth game in a row, falling to the Washington Nationals for a second straight night.
Here are the key takeaways...
- Making his second career start at Citi Field, Kodai Senga walked the first batter to face him but escaped further damage. He wasn’t as lucky in the second inning after walking the leadoff hitter for a second straight inning.
Former Met Dominic Smith followed with a double to put runners on second and third before an infield single by Lane Thomas scored the game’s first run. The Nationals scored another run on a CJ Abrams single that passed the drawn-in infield and Washington had a 2-0 lead. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Senga struck out three of the next four hitters, including Jeimer Candelario to strand the bases loaded.
- Facing MacKenzie Gore at the top of his game, Eduardo Escobar hit a leadoff triple in the third inning on a ball that the right fielder Thomas misplayed. Tomas Nido attempted a safety squeeze but bunted the ball right back to the pitcher and was thrown out at first base. After Brandon Nimmo struck out it appeared Gore would get out of the inning unharmed, but the struggling Starling Marte had other ideas, lining a single to left field that put the Mets on the board.
- For the third time in four innings, Senga walked the leadoff batter to begin the fourth and subsequently allowed a single to put the Nationals in business once again. This time, though, the Japanese pitcher struck out Victor Robles and Alex Call, sandwiched between a wild pitch, before getting Luis Garcia to ground out for the final out of the inning.
Senga got in and out of trouble all night, but worked his way through five innings, giving up two earned runs on five hits, four walks and striking out seven. He also induced two double plays, both by Keibert Ruiz.
- Jeff Brigham replaced Senga to start the sixth and was immediately put in hot water after Pete Alonso flat out missed Smith’s infield pop up which put him at second base. Brigham, who still hadn’t given up a hit during his tenure with the Mets, continued that trend with a flyout and groundout before walking Robles, who then stole second base. With New York still down just one run, Brigham struck out Call to end the inning and showed some emotion as he walked off the mound.
- With a taxed bullpen early this season, manager Buck Showalter threw Brigham back out there for a second inning, but the reliever couldn’t get out of the inning, giving up a solo home run to Candelario – the first hit Brigham had allowed with the Mets. After a strikeout and a single, Brigham was yanked for Brooks Raley who got Smith to ground out softly to end the inning.
- New York had a chance to answer right back in the seventh after back-to-back walks by Brett Baty and Daniel Vogelbach. Nimmo advanced the runners with a groundout to first base, but they were left stranded after Marte and Francisco Lindor struck out to end the inning.
- The Nationals scored another run in the eighth inning off Adam Ottavino before the Mets’ bats went quietly in the eighth and ninth innings. New York mustered just four hits on the night and have scored one run in the last two games against last-place Washington to begin its seven-game homestand.
- The Mets uncharacteristically had three errors on the night, but still have yet to allow an unearned run to score.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets look to salvage the final game of this three-game series on Thursday at 7:10 p.m.
