The Mets traveled to Cleveland for the first time since 2016, to take on the Guardians for a three-game series, and were swept handily by Cleveland. If there was worry about the season spiraling after losing a series to the last-place Marlins in Miami, this three-game set did nothing to calm those fears.
While each individual game was decided by three runs or less, the AL Central-leading Guardians, with a record of 33-17, were clearly the better team in this series. The sweep leaves the Mets with a record of 21-28, a season-worst 7 games under .500 and 14 games behind the NL East-leading Phillies.
Following an off day on Thursday, the Mets will be returning to the friendly confines of Citi Field for a 3-game weekend series against the San Francisco Giants.
In today’s Krom’s Korner I take a look at a recent comment by Francisco Lindor.
Game Recaps
Game 1: Guardians 3, Mets 1
The Guardians kicked off the series with their 4th straight win. While Cleveland’s bats did not light the scoreboard up, they were efficient and supported by a strong pitching performance, in particular from the Guardians bullpen.
The subplot for this game was the return of Francisco Lindor to Cleveland. It was the first time he returned to Progressive Field since the Guardians traded him to the Mets following the 2020 season. Lindor went 0-4 in the game, including a fly out, two groundouts and a strikeout. He exited the game with an average of .193. On the defensive side, he was able to display his Gold Glove-caliber defense with a great jump throw that was called an out after review.
The Guardians jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st and did not look back. The key hit there was a 2-run RBI single by David Fry. Tomas Nido cut the lead to 2-1 in the top of the third with a solo home run and the scoring was closed on a Kyle Manzardo RBI double.
For the Mets, Pete Alonso continued his uptick in performance as he had two hits. Brett Baty has been struggling recently at the plate and was 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts.
While the Mets only delivered 6 hits, the Guardians only had 4 but made them count. Former Met Andres Gimenez went 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts and Bo Naylor was 0 for 3 with 3 K’s.
Tylor Megill made his return to the rotation for the Mets, and threw 86 pitches over 5 innings. He gave up 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits while striking out 7 and walking 2. He took the loss to move to 0-2 and is carrying a 3.00 ERA. Josh Walker and Jorge Lopez combined for three shutout innings out of the bullpen.
For the Guardians, Ben Lively got the start and picked up his 3rd victory of the year, going 5.2 innings and giving up 1 run on 6 hits over that time to go with 7 strikeouts and no walks. The Cleveland bullpen gave up no hits over 3.1 innings of work to preserve the win.
Game 2: Guardians 7, Mets 6
Cleveland picked up its 5th straight win and never trailed in the ballgame. While the Mets made a valiant comeback effort, it was not enough for New York to avoid its second loss in a row.
Following an 0 for 4 performance in the first game of the series, Francisco Lindor contributed with a 2 for 5 day at the plate with an RBI. The Mets hit three home runs on the day, from Mark Vientos (his second of the year), Jeff McNeil (his second), and Starling Marte (his fifth). Lindor’s hit was the only Mets run not driven in by a homer.
For Cleveland at the plate, Jose Ramirez went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI (2 of which came on his 12th home run of the season) and David Fry contributed a pinch hit 2-run home run in the sixth inning to put the Guardians up 7-4 at the time after the Mets had cut the lead to 5-4 in the top of the frame on McNeil’s home run.
On the mound, Adrian Houser took the ball for the Mets, making his first appearance since last Wednesday against the Phillies, and his first start since May 2nd against the Cubs. Houser pitched into the sixth inning before giving way to Jake Diekman who proceeded to give up Fry’s home run. Houser’s final stat line was 5 innings, 6 runs on 6 hits with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. On the year his record now stands at 0-4 with a 7.88 ERA. After Diekman, Jorge Lopez and Sean Reid-Foley contributed 2.1 innings of no-hit relief.
For the Guardians, Xzavion Curry got the starting nod, replacing former Met Carlos Carrasco (who came to NY from Cleveland in the Lindor trade before going back to Cleveland) who went on the injured list. Curry went 4.2 innings, allowing 2 runs on 7 hits before 6 relievers spelled Curry to pick up the win for the Guardians.
Game 3: Guardians 6, Mets 3
The swept was completed in comeback fashion, as the Guardians spotted the Mets a 3-0 lead before coming back to complete the sweep and pick up their 6th win in a row.
For the Mets, Francisco Lindor had a 2-hit day to raise his average above .200 with it standing at .203 exiting the series. Pete Alonso had one hit on the day, and it was a solo home run in the top of the 1st, his 11th of the season, to get the scoring started. Alonso, after a prolonged slump, has his average up to .236 (his highest average since April 29th) to go along with 11 HR’s and 24 RBI’s and an OPS of .779. Jeff McNeil hit a home run for the second straight game. Harrison Bader completed the trifecta of Mets hitters to deliver solo home runs and representing all the Mets scoring.
For the Guardians, former Met Andres Gimenez, who came to Cleveland as part of the Lindor trade, erased New York’s 3-0 lead with one swing in the bottom of the 6th to tie it at 3 with his 4th home run of the season. Johnathan Rodriguez would deliver what was ultimately the game winning hit to put Cleveland up 4-3. That was Rodriguez’s first career hit.
Jose Quintana got the start for the Mets and other than Gimenez’s swing he pitched pretty well. His stat line was 6 innings of 3 run ball with 4 hits, no walks and 4 strikeouts. The Mets early season bullpen star, Reed Garrett, picked up his first loss of the season to move to 5-1. He surrendered 1 run in 1 inning of work, and that moved his ERA up to 1.04.
Triston McKenzie started for Cleveland and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits. The Cleveland bullpen then went the last 4 innings without giving up a run.
Krom’s Korner
The role of a team leader is not only one of performing on the field. It also encompasses being there when times are good and bad, being the face of a franchise, and being the spokesperson.
There is no question that Francisco Lindor is a leader on the Mets, which makes his comments this week (what he misses most about Cleveland is winning) that much more puzzling. Traded to the Mets from the Cleveland Guardians following the 2020 season, Lindor came to the Big Apple after being the clear star and face of the Guardians, a good team in a smaller market. Match the star shortstop to the biggest market in the world and there was bound to be some stress for Lindor.
He has lived up to the hype on the defensive side of the ball for the Mets, and he plays every day. In 2022 he played in 161 games and last year in 160 games. Lindor won a Silver Slugger Award in 2023, following winning the award twice in Cleveland. When it comes to batting, it’s been a bit of a seesaw during Lindor’s tenure with the Mets. Over his first 3+ seasons with the Mets (including this year so far), his slash line of batting average/on-base percentage/slugging has been .248/.327/.437 with an OPS of .764. For comparative purposes, his numbers in Cleveland were .285/.346/.488 with an OPS of .833. So, one can argue that a major reason for the Mets lack of winning is production from the top of the lineup (of which Lindor is a key piece).
While his numbers have not been great, Lindor has exuded a positive attitude since he walked in the door as a Met. He always has a smile on his face and does not create controversy. However, this week when asked what he misses most about Cleveland, his answer started with “Winning.” While this could have been as much of a shot at himself than the organization that is paying him $341 million to be the shortstop of the Mets, he needs to be better than that.
Here’s hoping this does not create any animosity among the team, and it should not, given the goodwill and leadership that Lindor has shown the team up to this point.
Upcoming: Return to Citi Field to face the Giants
After the series against the Guardians, the Mets return home to play the Giants. San Francisco is fresh off a series in Pittsburgh against the Pirates. They’ll play immediately following the Pittsburgh series while the Mets will have a day off as they travel back from Cleveland.
Game 1 of the series has Christian Scott scheduled to start for the Mets. Scott is coming off a very tough start in Miami where he gave up 4 runs in 4 innings. The heralded rookie is 0-2 with a 4.32 ERA and will be looking for his first career victory.
Game 2’s scheduled starter is Luis Severino. His last outing was also against Miami where he gave up 5 runs in 6.2 innings. Severino’s season record is 2-2 with a 3.48 ERA.
Game 3 will likely see lefty Sean Manaea take the hill for the Mets in the series finale. In his last start against Miami, Manaea went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs. This has become about what to expect from Manaea in his starts. His record is 3-1 with a 3.11 ERA.
Written by: Jason Krom
Stats by espn.com and baseball-reference.com
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