The New York Mets have lost four of their last five games and are 4-6 in their last ten. Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves, the team that took the most recent series against Luis Rojas’ team, are in third place, now 3.5 games behind; and the surging Washington Nationals, winners of seven of their last ten, are in second place, only two games out of first.
For the Mets, who were up five games at one point recently, that aforementioned division lead is quickly dwindling among another rough stretch injury-wise. Outfielder Brandon Nimmo and infielder JD Davis still haven’t returned, although they are getting closer, but now, they lost pitcher Joey Lucchesi to Tommy John surgery and David Peterson will not make his next start with soreness on his right side.
The Mets are trying to find ways to cling to that first place, but they are getting out of human resources in the rotation, because Carlos Carrasco and Noah Syndergaard will also take, at the very least, a few more weeks to go in their rehabs.
The Mets need to string some consecutive wins
Last night, the Mets had their best starter, Jacob deGrom, against the Braves, and while he struck out 14 in seven innings, he allowed three runs, all in the first frame. Then, reliever Seth Lugo lost the game, which was tied at that point, in the ninth in the messiest of ways: infield single (with a throwing error), groundout, strikeout, intentional walk, walk and another infield single.
“Little things that end up being big things, and that cost us the game there,†Rojas said to MLB.com. “But what can we do? Like I say every day, these things make us better. We’ve just gotta get on that plane, go to New York and be prepared for the Yankees tomorrow. That’s gotta be our goal right now.â€
The Mets are about to start a three-game set against the Yankees, the so-called Subway Series, and they need to string together some wins if they want to get to the All-Star break at the top of their division.