Rox bottom has never looked worse.
Any optimism the Mets carried into the weekend after snapping a 12-game losing streak and winning two straight was completely siphoned over six hours Sunday.
Manager Carlos Mendoza’s beleaguered bunch managed only one run over 18 innings in getting swept by the hapless Rockies in a Citi Field doubleheader.
The three-game series sweep by Colorado was complete with the Mets’ 3-0 loss in the nightcap. The Mets fell 3-1 in the doubleheader’s first game.
With Monday’s off-day, questions will continue to swirl about Mendoza’s job security. Mendoza isn’t the one swinging to weak contact at the plate, but Mets owner Steve Cohen can’t fire the entire team.
Chase Dollander and his 100 mph heat provided the resistance in the nightcap. It was quite the contrast to journeyman Jose Quintana’s assortment of junk in Game 1.
In the nightcap, Kodai Senga continued his free fall by lasting only 2 ²/₃ innings and allowing three earned runs on three hits with three walks. It was a third straight start in which the right-hander failed to complete even four innings.
Hunter Goodman’s two-run homer in the third that gave the Rockies a 3-0 lead suggested Senga might be facing short work. And after Senga walked two batters in the third inning, manager Carlos Mendoza removed him.
Carl Edwards Jr., in his Mets debut, gave the team a chance with 3 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in relief. Edwards, who struck out five, walked three batters without allowing a hit.
The Mets had a chance to rally in the fifth after Carson Benge and Ronny Mauricio delivered consecutive singles to begin the inning. But Tyrone Taylor’s ensuing line drive was snagged by first baseman TJ Rumfield and was turned into a double play.
The Mets took a shot at a late rally in Game 1, but it fizzled in the eighth. After Juan Soto walked to load the bases with one out, Luis Robert Jr. popped out and Mark Vientos struck out, eliciting boos from the crowd.
Nolan McLean was removed after five innings in which he allowed two runs, one unearned, on five hits and two walks with seven strikeouts.
The start matched McLean’s shortest of the season — he also went only five innings against the Pirates in his initial outing.
McLean allowed an RBI single to Troy Johnston in the fourth, but the inning could have gotten much worse. With the bases still loaded and nobody out, McLean struck out Kyle Karros before getting Brett Sullivan to hit a soft comebacker that started a 1-2-3 double play. The rally started with two straight singles before Rumfield walked to load the bases.
Taylor’s homer leading off the bottom of the fifth tied it 1-1. Quintana had retired 11 straight batters before Taylor cleared the fence in left-center for his second homer this season.
Vientos’ throwing error helped the Rockies score an unearned run in the sixth. Vientos, at first base, fielded Rumfield’s grounder and attempted a throw to second to nail Mickey Moniak. But the throw hit Moniak, leaving the bases loaded and nobody out. Huascar Brazobán replaced McLean and induced a double-play grounder from Johnston, with the run scoring.
Brazobán surrendered an RBI single to Jake McCarthy in the seventh that widened the Mets deficit to 3-1. Sullivan’s double started the rally. Luis Torrens nailed McCarthy attempting to steal second before Jordan Beck reached on a pitch clock violation for ball four. Brazobán retired Edouard Julien for the final out.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
