Mets Week in Review: A 1-6 Week Sinks Leads to Firings and Trades

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New York Mets Weekly Snapshot

Record Last Week: 1-6

Runs Scored Last Week: 28

Runs Surrendered Last Week: 42

Standings:

5th in NL East (35-49)

15 GB of 1st Place, 9.5 GB of a Wild Card

Transactions:

6/24 New York Mets activated SS Francisco Lindor from the 10-day injured list.
6/24 New York Mets designated SS Zack Short for assignment.
6/25 New York Mets placed 2B Marcus Semien on the 10-day injured list. Left hip flexor strain.
6/25 New York Mets sent RHP Dedniel Núñez on a rehab assignment to St. Lucie Mets.
6/25 New York Mets recalled SS Ronny Mauricio from Syracuse Mets.
6/25 New York Mets recalled RHP Daniel Duarte from Syracuse Mets.
6/25 New York Mets traded LHP David Peterson to Chicago Cubs for 3B Cole Mathis.
6/25 New York Mets optioned RHP Jonathan Pintaro to Syracuse Mets.
6/26 New York Mets activated CF Tyrone Taylor from the 10-day injured list.
6/26 New York Mets optioned DH MJ Melendez to Syracuse Mets.
6/26 New York Mets recalled LHP Zach Thornton from Syracuse Mets.
6/26 New York Mets optioned RHP Daniel Duarte to Syracuse Mets.
6/27 New York Mets sent 1B Jorge Polanco on a rehab assignment to Syracuse Mets.
6/27 New York Mets sent SS Zack Short outright to Syracuse Mets.
6/27 New York Mets optioned LHP Zach Thornton to Syracuse Mets

Scores:

Game 78: NYM 6, CHC 9

Game 79: NYM 3, CHC 10

Game 80: NYM 5, CHC 10

Game 81: NYM 3, CHC 4

Game 82: NYM 1, PHI 2

Game 83: NYM 6, PHI 2

Game 84: NYM 4, PHI 5

Series Breakdown/Highlights

Cubs Series: The Mets came home after their trip to Philly to take on the Cubs for four games. Little did they know what would transpire by the end of the series.

The Mets kicked off the week on a frustrating note, as Kodai Senga suffered a major mechanical collapse, laboring through just 3.2 innings and putting New York in an early grave by walking five batters and surrendering seven earned runs. The Cubs jumped all over Senga in a five-run second inning, highlighted by a crushing three-run homer from Pete Crow-Armstrong. Cubs starter Edward Cabrera kept the Mets mostly at bay early on. Outside of the second inning, New York’s offense mounted a late-inning threat against the Chicago bullpen. Bo Bichette provided the biggest spark of the night, going 2-for-4 and drilling a clutch two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, but the early deficit proved too massive to overcome.

The opening game of Wednesday’s doubleheader turned into a late-inning nightmare for the Flushing faithful after Nolan McLean initially kept the team competitive against Cubs starter Javier Assad, including the Mets taking a 3-0 lead, but it did not last. McLean imploded as the game went on and was later completely blown open in the later frames by an absolute masterclass from Dansby Swanson, who dismantled the Mets' bullpen during a historic seven-RBI afternoon. Swanson pulverized two home runs, including a grand slam that turned a close contest into an absolute rout.

In the second game of the doubleheader, we had a full-on "Oh no, the Mets" game. In a winnable affair, the Mets' infield defense committed six errors, one by each player and multiple by some, which contributed to a high pitch count for Sean Manaea. The Mets were able to get to Cubs starter Shota Imanaga for four runs, but the errors completely erased that advantage. Five of the Cubs' 10 runs were unearned in the game.

The Mets played a much tighter, more disciplined ballgame in the series finale early, but the ultimate result remained the same as the Cubs completed the four-game sweep. Freddy Peralta turned in a strong bounce-back performance for New York, keeping Chicago's hitters off-balance until the Mets defense betrayed him in the sixth inning, leading to three Cubs runs. Matthew Boyd matched him with a gritty performance. The Mets' bullpen kept it close going to extra innings, where Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a go-ahead double, and the Cubs bullpen locked it down to sweep the series.

Phillies Series: Fresh with a new manager, the Mets meet the Phillies for the second week in a row, and the results were the same.

An old-fashioned divisional pitching duel unfolded at Citi Field as Zach Thornton took the hill for the Mets against Phillies starter Zach Wheeler. Thornton, after a rough first inning, was absolutely magnificent, limiting a high-powered Philadelphia lineup to just one run over six dominant innings of work, but Wheeler was just a tiny bit better, keeping the Mets' hitters completely off-balance all night. The decisive blow of the contest came off the bat of Trea Turner, who hit an RBI single in the eighth inning against Huascar Brazoban. The Mets offense had no answers for the back end of the Philly bullpen.

In game two, the Mets snapped their seven-game losing streak for Andy Green's first win as a Mets manager. Christian Scott was very good, giving up two runs over 4.2 innings of work. The Mets offense came alive against bulk reliever Alan Rangel, scoring four runs against him in the sixth inning. The Mets added two more runs in the seventh inning against Kyle Backus to secure the win.

In the rubber game of the series, a bullpen game for the Mets would go better than others but still result in a loss. The pitching was not a big problem in this game because the Mets offense had chances. The offense was 2-16 with runners in scoring position against Jesus Luzardo and the Phillies bullpen that was struggling to throw strikes at times. A.J. Ewing hit a pinch-hit game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning as he continues to impress for the Mets, with another run tacked on with a force-out. Kodai Senga, who made one bad pitch, gave it right back on a two-run homer off the bat of Kyle Schwarber. It was Senga's best outing of the season, but hit still resulted in a loss.