WASHINGTON — Too often this season, the Mets have taken steps forward in their play, only to suffer a devastating loss the next night. One step forward, only to take three steps back, sometimes more.
The Mets might not have won their fourth straight Wednesday night, but unlike in recent losses, they didn’t take a step back. In a 5-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, the Mets didn’t blow any leads, there were no defensive gaffes and the lineup made life tough on right-hander Brad Lord.
A three-run comeback after going down 5-1 looked a lot more like the early season Mets than the summer Mets. Brett Baty hit his 15th home run of the season and Jeff McNeil drove in two runs one night after driving home three.
After going down 4-0 in the fourth, Baty hit his second home run in as many days off Lord in the top of the fifth to make it 4-1. Josh Bell took Kodai Senga deep in the bottom of the inning, but the Mets responded with three runs off Lord in the top of the sixth. The Nats (51-75) were able to take advantage of the four left-handed relievers in their bullpen, getting the matchups they wanted against a Mets (67-59) team that has struggled to hit lefties all season.
“Sometimes we want to be aggressive in the strike zone, but we’ve got to swing at our pitches,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “I feel like at times we’re swinging at pitches when we’re ahead in the count. So maybe we’re a little too aggressive and not doing damage on pitches early.”
Left-hander Shinosuke Ogasawara retired the Mets in order in the seventh, right-hander Clayton Beeter did the same in the eighth and left-hander Jose A. Ferrer shut the door in the ninth for his third save.
But before that, the Mets had life. Lord (4-6) walked the first two hitters in the sixth, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, before striking out Starling Marte. Pete Alonso then doubled to the right field corner to score Lindor and advance Soto to third. McNeil, the Mets’ hottest hitter as of late and arguably their most consistent bat in the lineup, took a 2-1 changeup and drove to the left field corner to score two more, cutting the deficit to 5-4.
Lord then exited the game and was replaced by right-hander Cole Henry. The Mets loaded the bases on Henry, but Baty’s fly ball to right field was too shallow for McNeil to score on, and Luis Torrens grounded out to end the inning.
“We had the bases loaded there down one, and they got [Cedric] Mullins with one out,” Mendoza said. “Then Luis hits a ball really hard right at the second baseman, but then after that, the lefties came in and kept us off balance, and then we didn’t create any traffic.”
It was the end of the comeback, but still, it showed fight.
Senga remains an enigma. His last few times out, he was unable to find the strike zone. This time, he found it, but he left his pitches up, with the Nationals doing the most damage in the fourth, sending hard line drives into the corners. Senga (7-5) was charged with five runs (four earned) on six hits, walking two and striking out four.
“Stuff-wise, he was good,” Mendoza said. “He just left a couple of pitches up in the zone. Acouple of pitches like middle-middle. We’ve been asking him to compete in the strike zone. But then — especially when he was ahead today — he left pitches right in the middle, and they made him pay.”
After retiring the first six in order, he ran into trouble in the third. Catcher’s interference by Torrens didn’t help matters. It put two on with none out, and the Mets couldn’t turn a double play on Robert Hassell III’s ground-ball, putting runners on the corners with one out. James Wood walked, and C.J. Abrams hit an infield single to score the runner. A fly ball scored another.
In the fourth, he gave up a leadoff double, a one-out double and a triple made it 4-0. He pitched into the sixth inning, but was lifted after giving up a single to Daylen Lile. It wasn’t exactly the Senga of April and May, but it was a more efficient outing than some of his more recent ones.
“I couldn’t finish those hitters off,” Senga said. “So there are things to improve on.”
Brandon Nimmo left the game after his first at-bat with neck soreness. Since running into the outfield wall in 2019, Nimmo has dealt with soreness in his neck off and on, with it seemingly popping up out of nowhere. It was sore when he woke up Wednesday morning, but oftentimes he’s able to play through it. However, he couldn’t look up to track fly balls or move his neck the way he wanted at the plate.
Typically, the issue clears up in 48-72 hours with rest and treatment. The Mets don’t plan on doing any further testing on Nimmo, or on Torrens, who was hit on the hand with a bat and took a few foul tips off his body.
Torrens said it was simply a normal day behind the plate.
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