The baseball season is long and the Mets know how to navigate the ups and downs all too well.
After losing 2-of-3 to the Phillies over the weekend, and then the first two of their four-game set with the Braves earlier this week, it felt like the sky was falling for the Mets. They were losing pitchers to injury, the once-daunted bullpen has shown kinks in its armor and the offense remained inconsistent. But how easy a couple of wins can turn things around.
The team entered play on Thursday, capping off a 10-game stretch against the Braves and Phillies, with a 2-7 record and losing their months-long grasp of the NL East in the process. Manager Carlos Mendoza and the rest of the team continued to preach patience, and it appears to be paying off.
With their back-to-back wins to split the series with the Braves — including an impressive 4-0 win on Thursday night — the Mets have hopped over the Phillies to recapture first place in the division.
While the Astros, who swept the Phillies this week, had their part to play, the Mets continued not to let the rough patch get to them because they knew it would turn around.
“We’re a resilient bunch and we stick together," Pete Alonso said after the game. "Losing is never great, losing stinks…how this group has handled adversity has always been great. A lot of these guys came from the same group that came from 11 games under last year and found a way to win games when they mattered most. There’s a lot of belief in this group, there’s a lot of talent in this room.
"Sometimes you get got, it’s the big leagues, you can lose on any given night because the talent is great, especially against two quality, in-division rivals. Happens….collectively it’s a learning experience and we’ll get better from it."
Alonso's three hits helped propel a Mets offense that has often squandered chances to put up runs. But they didn't on Thursday, even if they were on the cusp of doing so. In the fourth inning, Alonso's single put runners on first and third with no outs. Jeff McNeil flew out, unable to score Juan Soto from third and Tyrone Taylor was down in the count 0-2, but the outfielder lofted a long fly ball to give the Mets the lead. A lead they would not relinquish.
"Continue to stay in the fight. The one thing I keep saying is as long as we keep creating traffic, we’re going to come through," Mendoza said. "A lot of good at-bats, especially with two outs — overall, as long as we’re creating traffic, we have a lot of good hitters. They’ll come through for us."
While the win was great, the Mets lost another starting pitcher due to injury on Thursday. Griffin Canning seemingly suffered an Achilles injury on a non-contact play, making him the third starter to be lost to injury this month (Kodai Senga, Tylor Megill).
Despite the string of bad injury luck, Mendoza remains confident in his group because he saw their resilience last year and it remains the same this season.
"Goes to show you that those guys are up for the challenge, whatever comes at you," Mendoza said. "It happens every year, how you’re going to handle it and how you’ll respond. With Senga and Megill … guys will step up. Guys will come from the minor leagues. We just got to stick together and take it one day at a time….today is the most important day.
"Same thing we saw last year, the same we saw in spring training when guys went down this month, this past 10-12 days with injuries, not getting results. And how steady, how consistently they stay throughout. There’s no panic, but at the same time, there’s a sense of urgency to get better, how to get out of this stretch. Little by little, we continue to do the things we need to do, and obviously we have to be healthy. As far as the group goes, they’re consistent, they’re resilient, they have grit, they compete and they have fun."
The Mets will look to continue their winning ways when they head to Pittsburgh for three games this weekend against the 32-50 Pirates. If they take care of business, their stay atop of the NL East will be longer.
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