No punch, no runs, no fight whatsoever. The Mets were offensively inept yet again, smothered 4-0 by Cincinnati with starter Jon Niese undone by their sorry hitting and David Wright’s surprising error.
They mustered just three hits all night, while they allowed three unearned runs in the first, all thanks to Wright’s rare gaffe, letting ex-Rutgers star Todd Frazier’s two-out bases-loaded grounder go through his legs. That helped put the Mets in a 3-0 hole, and the way they’ve played, the rest of the game was a fait accompli.
“I just wish the ball would’ve found the glove because Jon Niese settled in and was fantastic those next five innings,” said Wright. “I wish I could’ve made that one. But when things aren’t going great, one play like that can cost you a game, and it did.
“Right now we’re not playing very good baseball. It’s asking a lot of your starting pitcher to go out there and put up zero after zero because the offense is not doing what we’re capable of doing. The way it’s going, you know you have to put up a near-perfect game to get a win, and that’s not a good feeling.’’
Niese (3-5) was wild in the first, walking Joey Votto with two out, letting Brandon Phillips single to center and walking Jay Bruce to load the bases. Wright’s error plated Votto and Phillips, and after Donald Lutz beat out an infield single to reload the bases, Niese walked No. 8 hitter Devin Mesoraco to force in another run.
After needing 48 pitches to escape the first, Niese, who had a season-high seven strikeouts, settled in and needed just 58 pitches for the next five innings, mixing in his cutter and two-seamer and pitching well. But the way the Mets have struggled that was far too big a hole to overcome.
“We just couldn’t get anything going,’’ said Terry Collins, whose team has lost 10 of its last 12 at home, averaging just two runs in that span.
They got smothered by Mike Leake (4-2), who allowed just three hits in his seven shutout innings. The Mets’ only threat came in the fourth, when catcher John Buck doubled to put runners at second and third with two out. But the struggling Ike Davis came up to a chorus of boos before he even got into the batter’s box, and grounded to first to end the threat. Davis is now 0-for-his-last 24 with men in scoring position.
“It’s just not going through. I squared one up to the track, and [they] made a play on another,’’ said Davis, who went 0-for-3. “Obviously I’d like to hit it a little more to the left and it’s a hit, or hit it a little more and it’s a homer. It doesn’t always happen that way, and it hasn’t happened for a while.’’
Mesoraco hit a solo shot off reliever Collin McHugh in the eighth for the final margin. And now the Mets have gone 16 straight games without mustering at least five runs, their offensive malaise growing deeper and deeper.
“At this point we’re not even getting many opportunities with runners in scoring position. So it’s not about getting that big hit. It’s about getting some runners out there, putting some pressure on the pitchers,’’ said Wright. “We’re not drawing many walks, not getting many hits. It’s not a great recipe.
“It’s obviously no fun to come to the ballpark and need your starter and bullpen to be perfect to win games. That’s not fun offensively. … We’ve got to keep working, get a couple cheap ones to fall, get guys’ confidence up and get rolling from there.’’