It was another disappointing game for the Mets on Thursday afternoon, losing to the Washington Nationals, 9-3, and dropping the series in the process.
After winning the final two games against the Seattle Mariners over the weekend to win their first series since late July, things were looking up for New York following a series-opening win against the Nationals on Tuesday that made it three in a row.
Perhaps the tide was finally turning for a team that had been saying for the last two months it needed to play better. What followed, however, didn't inspire much confidence as the Mets let the final two games in Washington slip away and were left in the same exact spot they've been in for the last two months.
"We just got to be better, bottomline," said manager Carlos Mendoza after the game.
Thursday's culprit was Sean Manaea who began the game by dominating the Nationals lineup, striking out seven in the first three innings as his offense gave him a quick lead. But after such a strong start, Manaea unraveled in the fourth before completely falling apart in the fifth.
The left-hander lasted 4.2 innings and allowed four earned runs — the fourth straight outing that he's given up four or more as part of a terrible month of August in which he has a 7.91 ERA in 19.2 innings.
"I just lost feel for my sweeper right there and then just lost control of my fastball at the end there, too," Manaea said.
It's becoming a trend lately for the 33-year-old to pitch well in the first few innings before hitting a wall during the second time through the lineup. In fact, as a staff, the Mets entered Thursday with a 7.14 ERA in the fourth inning over their last 61 games — second-highest behind the Miami Marlins (7.65 ERA).
Citing he feels good physically after his late start to the season with a right oblique strain and a left elbow setback, Manaea had a hard time explaining why that's been the case for him.
"I wouldn’t say fatigue. I feel good," he said. "I really have no explanation for why I’m hitting that wall."
When asked what he can do to counter it, Manaea's answer was equally concerning.
"I don’t know. I think that’s key. I think I’m doing everything in between starts so I just gotta execute," the lefty said.
As for his skipper, Mendoza was clear in his message to Manaea, and the rest of his starters for that matter, who has not gotten the job done as one of New York's front-line starters.
After all, the Mets' streak of starters not named David Peterson unable to pitch six innings is still active.
"It starts with our starters. They set the tone," Mendoza said. "When they go, the whole team pretty much goes. And it’s been hard for these guys the past two months basically, dealing with injuries, getting guys back.
"But at this point, with everybody pretty much healthy we need to be better. We need to be better. And they know that — talking about [Kodai] Senga, Manaea tonight. We need those guys. And they know they’re capable of giving us a chance to win baseball games and right now we’re not doing that. It’s frustrating, they are frustrated."
With the calendar getting ready to flip to September, time is running out for New York to figure things out which is why the message continues to be the same as it has been for the last two months: Just play better.
At some point, though, words aren't enough.
"We gotta get going. We gotta see results," Mendoza said. "We’ve seen it from this group, especially from the guys that I mentioned. It starts right there. We don’t have much time left so we gotta play better."
"It ain’t late, but it ain’t early either," said Juan Soto about having enough time to turn it around. "We have to win today. We don’t have to be focused on what is gonna happen in the future or what has happened in the past, we gotta focus on what we can do today."
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