QUEENS — The Mets appear to have left their offense on the west coast because their bats in their first two games back home have been M.I.A.
MacKenzie Gore, who was acquired by Washington in the trade for Juan Soto last season, ripped through the Mets’ lineup, tying a career-high with 10 strikeouts across six innings. He allowed just one run on four hits as the Washington Nationals took their second straight from New York, 4-1, on Wednesday night at Citi Field. This coming one night after Josiah Gray shut down the Mets (14-11) in a 5-0 result.
“We knew coming in that they have pitched as well as anybody in the league,” Showalter said of the now 9-14 Nationals. “We’re seeing that. We’re seeing why Gore was a guy [the Nationals] wanted for a guy like Soto.”
Coupled with two straight losses in the back half of a four-game set against the San Francisco Giants, the Mets have now lost four straight games — their longest losing streak since losing five straight from Sept. 21-26, 2021.
“This is one of those stretches,” Francisco Lindor, who went 0-for-4, said. “We’ve been a group that’s been able to turn the page extremely quick. Learn from today, turn the page.”
At the root of the issue is the continuation to falter in situations with runners on base. They left eight in total on the basepaths on Wednesday night, including a failure to score a single run with runners on second and third with one out in the seventh inning as both Starling Marte and Lindor struck out.
“They pitched well,” Lindor, now for 1-for-his-last-21 said. “And I missed my pitches that I’ve gotten to hit.”
The Nationals carved two of their three runs in the second inning against Kodai Senga, who once again trudged through a laborious start, going five innings with four walks and seven strikeouts.
He worked around a 14-pitch first inning in which he threw six consecutive balls but wasn’t nearly as lucky in the second. Yielding a pair of walks and three…
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