David Wright insists his shoulder is no excuse. But that’s the warrior in him talking. Anyone watching the Mets lately knows the third baseman and team captain isn’t quite right and likely won’t be for the remainder of the season.
He sat out Sunday’s game after getting hit by a pitch on his sore left shoulder on Saturday night, a blow that seemed especially cruel since that’s the area where a bruise has hampered Wright for much of the season. He was expected to be sidelined a few more games, but walked into manager Terry Collins’ office Monday morning and announced himself fit to play. But then he went hitless in four at-bats and heard some boos from the crowd, punctuating another dismal showing by the Mets offense in a 4-1 loss to the Cubs at Citi Field.
“When I go tell the manager that I’m good to play, I expect to produce,” Wright said afterward. “I’m not thinking about the shoulder. I’m not thinking about bad habits. I’m going up trying to excel and do what I’m capable of doing and doing what I’ve proven I can do. When I don’t do that, I’m as frustrated as anybody.”
Wright, who has just one hit in his last 13 at-bats, is just part of the problem. The Mets as a whole have gone punchless. They wasted a quality outing by Carlos Torres, who learned only hours before the game he was taking the hill for Bartolo Colon, who rushed back to the Dominican Republic to be with his ailing mother who died Monday afternoon.
Torres had pitched to two batters Sunday, but threw five shutout innings on Monday, allowing just three hits, while striking out five.
“That was awesome,” Wright said. “It was a terrific job to go out there and give us five innings of no-run ball. Very impressive.”
Impressive, but not good enough. The Cubs roughed up the Mets bullpen for four runs, including homers by Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez, to force a split of the four-game series. The Mets lone run was a solo homer by Lucas Duda in the fourth.
“It’s a tall task to go up there and score one or two runs and get four or five hits and expect to win those games,” Wright said. “We’re obviously going to have to do a better job.”
Wright’s return to the lineup didn’t provide a spark. Two hard-hit balls died in the glove of Cubs center fielder Arismendy Alcantara. His third at-bat was a pop out to first. Wright’s fourth at-bat ended when he chased a 3-2 slider that was low and inside.
He admitted he’s “searching.” His batting average is now .270 with just eight home runs, keeping him on pace for career lows. With his shoulder bruised, the only one holding out hope things will get better is Wright.
“Obviously the numbers aren’t what I’d like them to be,” he said. “It’s a hard game. I wish I could go up there and have a great year and put up those good numbers every year. But some [seasons] are going to be better than others.
“The biggest mindset I’ve got to maintain is to take it day by day and at-bat by at-bat and hopefully go on a nice roll. It takes a good swing and a good at-bat and you start getting some good results and all of a sudden you take off from there.”
That was not the case on Monday. Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks limited the Mets to just three hits and one earned run over seven innings as the right-hander improved to 5-1 with a 1.66 ERA. Reliever Neil Ramirez and closer Hector Rondon (18th save) took care of things from there.
“It’s just execution,” Wright said. “We’ve just got to go up there and do what we’ve done in the past when we’ve been a good offensive team. The only way to get back to that is you get a few hits and you start feeling good about yourself and you get that confidence back.”
That might be wishful thinking.