Mets swept by Blue Jays as Kodai Senga struggles, rally wasted
The way the Mets’ offense has been going, four runs — all on home runs — qualifies as a breakout.
But Buck Showalter’s crew needed more than a breakout to survive a strong Blue Jays club that buzzed its way to a sweep.
As the Mets’ bats began to wake up, their pitching became the problem in a 6-4 loss to the Blue Jays to complete a disappointing weekend at Citi Field.
A sellout crowd of 42,169 watched the Mets (30-30) fall back to .500 on a cloudy Sunday afternoon.
Kodai Senga was wild and Dominic Leone surrendered the go-ahead homer as the Mets seized no momentum from sweeping the Phillies.
A six-game road trip begins Tuesday in Atlanta.
“First thing is consistency offensively that we know guys are capable of. We know we haven’t put that together,” Buck Showalter said after the Mets were swept for the third time this season. “Then you have a game where you don’t play well defensively. You have a game where you don’t pitch well.”
Mets pitcher Dominic Leone reacts to a two-run home run by Toronto Blue Jays designated hitter Brandon Belt scoring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the seventh inning. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post
The Mets used their power to claw out of a four-run hole dug by the top of the third inning.
Tommy Pham crushed a pair of homers in the third and fifth to slash the gap in half.
The Mets blasted two more in the sixth, tying the game with dingers from Pete Alonso — his 72nd career homer at Citi Field, breaking a tie with Lucas Duda for the most in the park’s history — and Starling Marte.
But each of the dingers was a solo shot, and the good momentum lasted only a few minutes.
Showalter stuck with Leone against the heart of the Toronto lineup in the seventh, citing a “little short” bullpen that had been taxed a day prior when David Robertson, Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley pitched.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. singled to bring up Brandon Belt, who hammered a low-in-the-zone slider to center to give the Blue Jays a second lead, and the Mets couldn’t comeback again.
“I thought I made a pretty good pitch,” Leone said. “He made a better swing.”
The Mets have not been able to gain traction in a season in which a step forward has been followed by a step back.
Senga had been stepping up, excelling both recently (holding a 2.00 ERA in his past three starts entering the game) and locally (entering with a 1.20 ERA in Queens).
But his first attempt at pitching on normal rest as an MLB pitcher did not go well.
Mets starting pitcher Kodai Senga (34) reacts on the mound after giving up a home run to Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Robert Sabo for NY Post
Pitching on four days’ rest for an initial time after he typically pitched weekly in Japan, Senga lasted just 2 ²/₃ innings, in which he walked five.
The righty allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits and struggled to stay in the strike zone.
Toronto mostly laid off his ghost forkball.
Senga threw seven sliders and sweepers, and six were balls.
“There were a lot of times when their lineup would be taking a lot of my off-speed offerings,” Senga said through an interpreter, adding that he felt fine physically.
Senga was hit hard in the second, when a walk (to Matt Chapman) and a couple of rocket hits (a Daulton Varsho single and Whit Merrifield double) plated two.
He got into more trouble an inning later, when Guerrero smacked a one-out homer to left before Toronto scored with the Mets’ help.
Chapman doubled and Francisco Alvarez — who had picked off Guerrero at first base in the first inning — tried to back-pick Chapman, too.
But the throw sailed into shallow left-center, where center fielder Pham and left fielder Mark Canha both appeared to think the ball belonged to the other.
Mets right fielder Starling Marte (6) hits a solo home run during the sixth inning on Sunday. Robert Sabo for NY Post
As neither all-out sprinted, Chapman capitalized, going from third to home and sliding just ahead of an Alvarez tag.
It was another way for the game of inches to burn the Mets, who might be used to it.
In the second inning, a would-be triple from Marte became a double because the ball briefly was lodged under the right-field fence.
Marte eventually advanced to third but was stranded.
Little mistakes and little bad bounces hurt a team that has little room for error.
The Mets scored five runs in the series.
“As of right now, we’re a .500 ballclub,” said Alonso, whose homer was his major league-leading 21st of the year. “We were in every single one of these games. We had a chance to win all of them. It’s frustrating, but we got to come back and play our best.”
Source: New York Post
