Mets Struggle in Loss to Giants
The Mets, surprisingly, started off in first place in the NL East on Sunday. But honestly, you wouldn’t guess that by how they played. Their starting pitcher had another disappointing outing, and the lineup just didn’t show up, leading to a 12-4 defeat against the Giants at Citi Field.
This defeat was part of a week filled with inconsistencies for the Mets. They had a tough stretch with three straight losses before the All-Star break but managed to bounce back with seven wins in a row.
Despite a decent victory on Saturday, they still lost the series to the Giants, which was a tough pill to swallow. The team seemed to wave a white flag, having lost six consecutive series heading into Sunday’s game.
Frankie Montas didn’t help matters. In his second start since returning, he struggled significantly, showing that he hasn’t quite found his rhythm in four of his last six outings.
Montas allowed a season-high seven runs without recording an out in the fifth inning. Although he started well—retiring the first six batters he faced—things quickly fell apart. It all started to unravel in the third inning when he gave up a hit and then walked a batter, leading to a two-run homer that put the Giants ahead 4-1.
As the game progressed, Montas continued to falter. He allowed several more hits and walks, and Pete Alonso struggled with a ground ball, which allowed another run to score. The Giants built a commanding 6-1 lead with a series of singles and aggressive offensive play.
The Mets’ offense, which showed promise the day before by scoring a dozen runs, could only muster two runs against pitcher Carson Whisenhunt, who was making just his second major league start. It’s worth noting that Whisenhunt had a shaky minor league record but seemed to thrive against the Mets.
Although Francisco Lindor homered in the first inning, it became a long stretch until Jeff McNeil got a hit in the fifth. Even then, the Mets benefited more from Giants’ fielding errors than solid hits. Whisenhunt ended up allowing just one run in 5⅓ innings, and former Met Jose Boto managed to double up Alonso, closing out the sixth inning.
One of the few bright spots in the game was that Carlos Mendoza might have taken solace in his revamped bullpen, thanks to Austin Warren. But Ryne Stanek’s performance was so poor that he couldn’t finish the ninth inning, forcing catcher Lewis Torrens to step in to get the last out.
All in all, maybe the only takeaway from this loss is the need for the Mets to find some consistency and maybe a bit of luck moving forward.
