All was Wright for the Mets on Saturday, but that was before the game started.
On the field, manager Carlos Mendoza’s bunch appeared stuck in the All-Star break by falling behind in the middle innings for a second straight day while barely showing any offensive clout.
David Wright’s No. 5 got retired, and the Mets too often took the same tactic with runners in scoring position — during and after Clay Holmes’ rough performance — in a 5-2 loss to the Reds at Citi Field.
“[Wright] was one of my mentors and I was always trying to be like him,” Brandon Nimmo said, when asked about the Mets falling flat on Wright’s day. “It’s definitely disappointing to lose on his day, but it made it no less special — that ceremony beforehand was amazing, not just for him, but for the fan base to share it with him.”
Boos emanated throughout the ballpark in the late innings, especially the seventh and eighth, as the Mets offensive futility heightened. The Mets lost their third straight.
Nobody had a worse day than Francisco Lindor, who went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts. Overall, the Mets went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position — an issue from before the All-Star break that has festered.
Lindor, who is hitless in his past 17 at-bats, snuffed a Mets rally in the sixth when he was retired on a broken-bat grounder with the bases loaded. In the ninth — as the tying run at the plate — he grounded into a fielder’s choice for the first out.
“When he is going good he is short to the ball, he uses the whole field, and then he’s able to pull it when he has to,” Mendoza said. “Right now I feel he’s getting a little long. I don’t know if he is swinging too hard, but that is just part of when a good hitter is going through it.”
Juan Soto just missed a game-tying homer to right in the inning (the ball hooked foul around the pole) before striking out on a full-count check swing. Pete Alonso flied out to end it.
“If we keep putting pressure on, it will come, it will happen,” Nimmo said. “But we have just got to keep putting the pressure on and believing in ourselves.”
Holmes scuffled, allowing five runs, one of which was unearned, on six hits and two walks and a hit batter over 5 ¹/₃ innings. It was a seventh straight start in which Holmes failed to complete six innings.
Mark Vientos delivered a two-out RBI single in the first to produce the game’s first run. But after Jeff McNeil walked to load the bases, Ronny Mauricio grounded out. Nimmo and Alonso each singled to fuel the rally.
Brett Baty’s homer leading off the second gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. He jumped on a first-pitch fastball from Fordham product Nick Martinez and blasted it to the right field porch for his first homer since July 4 and 10th of this season.
Luis Torrens’ throwing error on a delayed pickoff attempt at first base in the third inning gave the Reds their first run. Holmes allowed an RBI single to Matt McLain to tie it 2-2 before getting Elly De La Cruz to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Holmes waked Austin Hays to start the fourth, and Jake Fraley’s RBI single — the Reds’ third hit in the inning — put the Mets in a 3-2 hole.
Reed Garrett appeared to escape a jam created by Holmes in the sixth by getting Tyler Stephenson to hit a potential inning-ending double play grounder to Mauricio at third. But Mauricio’s throw to second was high and wide, forcing Baty out of position. Hays, who walked leading off the inning, scored. The ensuing batter, Fraley, delivered an RBI double that extended the Reds’ lead to 5-2.
“If I could finish the sixth I put the team in a much better position to win that game,” Holmes said. “That is something going forward I need to work on … to be able to finish out, it’s huge.”
McNeil, Baty and Torrens walked to load the bases in the sixth with one out, but Nimmo swung at two Scott Barlow curveballs below the strike zone before whiffing on a fastball. Lindor was then retired on a broken-bat grounder to leave the bags full.
Boos were heard after Soto, Alonso and Vientos struck out in succession against Tony Santillan in the seventh. Boos returned after Mauricio hit into a double play in the eighth.
“There’s a sense of urgency every day,” Nimmo said. “The guys that have been here and the guys that were here last year know that we made the playoffs by one game. Every day there is urgency to try to win and come through in these situations.”
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