The New York Mets have been inconsistent to start the season and the offense has been cold in the early going, two not-so-great distinctions heading into a series with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The New York Mets begin a three-game road series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night with hopes of snapping its five-game losing skid.
The Mets, after a cold start offensively, appeared to be hitting a stride when it won four straight games earlier this month and outscored opponents 28-8. But since winning the series opener against the Arizona Diamondbacks last Tuesday, the Mets have lost 7-2, 7-1, 4-0, 11-6 and 1-0 over the past five games.
Not a lot of offense to back up the pitching staff, which has been great outside of a couple of bad starts from left-hander David Peterson and right-hander Kodai Senga. But even in the other games during the losing streak, when the starters held their own and gave the team great performances, the offense just couldn’t come through enough.
There couldn’t be a worse time to face the best team in Major League Baseball but the Mets have no choice but to face the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers for the next three games. Not only are the Mets facing the Dodgers, but the Mets are throwing Peterson into the fire against the best all-around offense in the sport.
Peterson is 0-2 with a 6.14 ERA and 1.84 WHIP through 14.2 innings pitched and has been shelled in each of his last two starts after throwing a dandy against the Pittsburgh Pirates in his first start. He threw 5.1 innings of six-hit ball with two walks and three strikeouts to earn a no-decision against the Buccos, but the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks combined to tag him for 11 runs (10 earned) on 15 hits and four walks with 11 strikeouts during his last two starts.
If Peterson doesn’t clean it up soon, he could be replaced by lefty Sean Manaea, who has a 2.25 ERA and 1.33 WHIP over 12 innings of work (four appearances). He went three perfect innings with four punchouts against the Athletics on Sunday.
Peterson squares off against the Dodgers’ fellow lefty Justin Wrobleski, who is 1-0 with a 4.00 ERA and 1.22 WHIP through nine innings of work. His first appearance against the Cleveland Guardians was in relief during Los Angeles’ first loss of the season and he gave up three runs on four hits and a walk with two strikeouts over four innings. Wrobleski started against the Toronto Blue Jays last week and threw five innings of one-run ball on two hits and four walks with two punchouts.
The Dodgers lead Major League Baseball in batting average (.290), slugging percentage (.495), OPS (.864), total bases (254), home runs (28), RBI (89) and are tied with the Houston Astros for the best on-base percentage (.369).
First pitch is at 9:10 p.m. PDT on ESPN Unlimited, MLB.TV and regional sports networks.