On Tuesday night at Citi Field, there was considerable chatter about the Knicks potentially making it to the NBA Finals.
Meanwhile, it felt like everything happening was just noise, detracting from the game at hand.
With the Mets now on a five-game losing streak, including a 7-2 defeat to the Reds, it seems the Knicks might soon need to step in.
The crowd expressed its frustration, especially when MJ Melendez misfielded a double from Tyler Stevenson, which allowed Bo Bichette to advance to third after a poor throw home.
There were a lot of concerns among fans, from another disappointing outing by David Peterson to the overall ineffective performance from a depleted lineup.
This loss was, honestly, pretty predictable. The Mets couldn’t score against Cincinnati’s Chase Barnes.
The young right-hander had only allowed two runs over his last 25 innings, which, unfortunately, came against a Mets team struggling to find any offensive rhythm during this losing streak.
When Peterson struggled right from the start, it was clear things weren’t shaping up well.
He walked Blake Dunn to begin the game, but Lewis Torrence quickly erased that gain by throwing Dunn out trying to steal second. However, a two-out single by Sal Stewart led to a walk for Spencer Steere. Then, Eugenio Suarez hit a double that brought in two runs, only escaping trouble after Melendez struck out Suarez at home with a single from Dane Myers also heading left.
In seven starts, Peterson has given up eight earned runs in the first inning alone.
In the second inning, they hadn’t capitalized on loaded bases with no outs, turning a hit from Dunn into a double play instead and grounding out Ellie Delacruz, keeping the deficit at two runs.
But Peterson soon let up three straight singles to kick off the fourth inning, followed by a two-run double from Delacruz with two outs.
Unfortunately, the Mets’ hitters couldn’t find a way to crack Barnes’s pitching. After Torrence’s double, he ended stranded at second, and a single from Bichette didn’t come until there was one out in the sixth inning.
Juan Soto, returning after a couple of games due to illness, managed to hit a two-run homer that briefly put the Mets in the lead.
AJ Ewing then singled, ending Barnes’s night.
Mark Vientos pinch-hit for Jared Young, confronting left-hander Sam Moll, but ended the inning with a double play.
“We’re not satisfied with where we are,” Carlos Mendoza mentioned before the game. “But they keep showing up and putting in the effort. We’ve faced some challenges, and it’s evident after the game. They hold each other accountable and there’s a pressing need for improvement.”
