NY Mets swept by Athletics as offense manages just 4 hits in 1-0 loss

The NY Mets dropped a 1-0 decision to the Athletics on Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, completing a home sweep and falling to 7-9 on the season. Freddy Peralta threw 6 innings of 1-run ball and struck out 6. The offense gave him nothing.

One swing. That was the difference.

Nick Kurtz led off the third inning and drove a solo shot to right field — the only run of the afternoon, and the only run the Athletics needed. Peralta stranded runners in the second inning and got out of a fourth-inning jam with a pair of groundouts. He did his job. The Mets just couldn’t do theirs.

Francisco Lindor went 2-for-4 and was one of the few Mets who made consistent contact, but both hits died quietly. In the sixth, he singled to put runners on first and second with 1 out — the best scoring chance of the game — and Jorge Polanco grounded into a forceout to kill the rally. Mark Vientos, pinch-hitting with 2 outs and 2 runners in scoring position, flew out to right to end the threat.

The lineup as a whole went 4-for-30 with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts. Bo Bichette, Brett Baty, and Marcus Semien combined for 0 hits in 10 at-bats. Carson Benge, hitting .130 on the year, went 0-for-3. Jared Young had the only multi-base threat of the early innings when a wild pitch moved him to second in the first, but Bo Bichette struck out to strand him.

Manaea Locked In, But It Didn’t Matter

Sean Manaea came on in the seventh and was as good as advertised — 3 scoreless innings, 4 strikeouts, no hits, no walks. He used an ABS challenge to strike out Nick Kurtz in the eighth and retired the Athletics in order across the final 3 frames. Manaea’s ERA sits at 2.25. The bullpen arms who followed Peralta — Hogan Harris, Scott Barlow, Elvis Alvarado, and Joel Kuhnel — combined to allow nothing either.

So the Mets threw 9 innings of 1-run baseball and lost a series sweep. That’s a lineup problem.

Luis Torrens and Tyrone Taylor each drew a hit or a walk and represented the extent of the Mets’ baserunning threat down the stretch. The ninth inning was three groundouts. The offense never made Aaron Civale work — he exited after 6 innings having walked 3, but the Mets stranded every runner he put on base.

At 7-9, the Mets have now been outscored and outhit in back-to-back series. The rotation has been a genuine strength. The bullpen has held up. But if the lineup can’t manufacture a run against a pitcher who walked 3 batters in 6 innings, the questions about this offense aren’t going away quietly — and the schedule doesn’t get easier from here.