The New York Mets are on a West Coast death march, and last night the Dodgers were happy to extend their losing streak.
The New York Mets have become baseball’s version of the lost platoon, and last night they ran into the pitching version of Shohei Ohtani as their latest journey into enemy territory continues. The result was a predictable 8-2 loss as Ohtani mowed down ten Mets in six innings while the Dodgers broke open yet another tight pitchers duel in the late innings.
The Dodgers got on the board first with two runs in the second inning, and these days that’s virtually a kiss of death for the Mets. Hyeseong Kim supplied the home-run power with Ohtani focused exclusively on pitching, and his two-run homer brought Dalton Rushing after Rushing doubled to right to make it 2-0.
The Mets did fight back briefly, if scoring a run can be considered fighting back. A double by new addition MJ Melendez brought home Carson Benge to cut the Dodgers’ lead in half in the fifth, but after that Ohtani and a pair of LA relievers shut down the Mets until they finally scored a meaningless run in the ninth.
The Dodgers countered that Benge run with a homer from Teoscar Hernandez in the sixth, and a grand slam by Rushing off reliever Devin Williams in the eighth put this one away for LA. Kyle Tucker followed with yet another home run to make it 8-1, and an RBI single by Marcus Semien in the ninth produced the final 8-2 count.
The pitching victim in this one was Clay Holmes, who gave up five runs in two innings and wound up taking the loss. Normally the Mets would love a start like that, but these days Mets starters are doomed as soon as they give up a run or two.
Manager Carlos Mendoza described the Mets as upset and frustrated, and he didn’t use the word “upset” to characterize his team. He doesn’t mind their anger, but Mendoza wasn't exactly in a talkative mood.
“Talk is cheap,” Mendoza added in a postgame piece written by Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. “Guys have got to start playing better. It’s as simple as that. They’re too talented. But right now, we’re not seeing anything on the field.”
Third baseman Bo Bichette was one of the few Mets players who spoke after the game, and he doesn’t have any answers either.
“This,” Bichette said, “is a bit extreme. I don’t really got much to say other than we can’t explain it, and we’ll keep on working to figure it out. It’s tough right now.”
If you want to know just how tough, consider this number that DiComo offered: Since last June 13, the Mets are 45-67. Extrapolated over a full season, that’s a 65-win pace.
Next up for the Mets is a three-game set against the Chicago Cubs that starts Friday as their road journey continues and they try to break their losing streak.