Dodger Stadium (Los Angeles) – In the aftermath of the Mets’ sixth straight defeat Monday night, shortstop Francisco Lindor sat reclined in a chair, jersey off, chatting quietly with Luis Robert Jr. The only audible noise in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium came from the scraping of dirt off cleats by the clubhouse attendants.
“It sucks going through it, whether it’s early, middle of the season, late,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “You know that at some point during the regular season of 162, you’re going to face adversity, and here we are, pretty early, facing adversity. You’ve just got to find a way to get through it.”
Instead, it only got worse from there as the Mets’ losing streak stretched to eight games after getting swept by the Dodgers on Wednesday night. New York was outscored 14-3 over its three games in Los Angeles.
Here are my takeaways from the series:
1. The Juan Soto-less Mets offense looks lifeless
On Wednesday night, Francisco Alvarez was halfway up the line on a soft groundout to Dodgers second baseman Alex Freeland in the seventh inning when he spiked his bat into the ground, a sign of the growing frustration from a remade offense that has been one of the worst in baseball to this point.
The Mets entered the series finale at Dodger Stadium having been outscored by 26 runs over a seven-game losing streak during which they were hitting .182 with a .215 on-base percentage as a team. No other team in that span had an on-base percentage lower than .255.
Francisco Lindor is one of many Mets off to a slow start this season at the plate.(Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
It was a short sample, but up until the Mets lost Soto to a calf injury on April 3, their offense ranked 14th in OPS. They now rank 29th, and the losing streak is up to eight.
This week in Los Angeles, New York’s offense was held down by stars and supporting cast members alike. On Monday night, Dodgers starter Justin Wrobleski threw a career-high eight shutout innings in the longest outing of his professional career. The next night, Francisco Lindor greeted Yoshinobu Yamamoto with a leadoff home run before Yamamoto retired the next 20 batters he faced. By night’s end, the Mets had scored one run in their last 29 innings.
That drought stretched to one run over 33 innings until an RBI double by MJ Melendez in the fifth inning on Wednesday off Shohei Ohtani. It was the only run the Mets scored off Ohtani in an 8-2 loss.
2. No two-way Shohei, but Ohtani’s shoulder looks fine on the mound
In the Dodgers’ first at-bat of the series on Monday night, Mets starter David Peterson plunked Ohtani with a 94-mph, 0-2 sinker directly behind the four-time MVP’s right shoulder. Ohtani was in clear discomfort, but he remained in the game and finished the night 0-for-4 with a run scored.
After going 0-for-3 with a walk on Tuesday, there came a surprise on Wednesday: For the first time since 2021 — before the “Ohtani rule” was created, allowing two-way players to remain in the game as a hitter even after their pitching outing ends — Ohtani was not in the lineup as a hitter on his start day on the mound.
Manager Dave Roberts said Ohtani was still dealing with some soreness behind his shoulder, and he wanted Ohtani to just focus on pitching Wednesday night. He did that job expertly, holding his velocity and cranking his four-seamer up as high as triple digits while striking out 10 batters and allowing just one run in six innings.
That one run, which scored on a ground-rule double from MJ Melendez, was the first earned run Ohtani has allowed in the regular season since Aug. 27 of last season.
The plan is for Ohtani to return to his usual two-way duties for his next start on the mound. His on-base streak — 48 games, the longest active streak in MLB — is still ongoing.
3. The Dodgers still have plenty of pop from the DH spot without Ohtani
Having Ohtani serve only as a pitcher Wednesday night gave backup catcher Dalton Rushing an opportunity to get into the lineup as the DH. He took advantage, breaking the game open with a grand slam in the eighth.
Rushing has taken advantage of his few chances as the catcher behind Will Smith. The 2022 second-round pick is 9-for-17 with four home runs. He has recorded a hit in all five games he has played in this year and has homered in three of them.
Dalton Rushing (right) celebrates his grand slam on Wednesday night. (Luke Hales/Getty Images)
The hit prevented closer Edwin Díaz from appearing against his former team. He was held out of Tuesday’s game after throwing a bullpen session earlier in the day after reporting some discomfort in his knee, but he insisted he was fine. He was warming up, getting ready to enter before Rushing’s grand slam.
4. The Dodgers’ supporting cast is thriving; the Mets’ newcomers … are not
Even with Mookie Betts and Blake Snell on the shelf and Kyle Tucker not yet performing to his capabilities, the Dodgers look every bit the juggernaut expected.
As Rushing’s power display demonstrated, the supporting players on their roster are helping pick up the slack. Andy Pages ranks fifth among all qualified MLB hitters in OPS and mashed a three-run homer in the opener. Hyeseong Kim, who was playing shortstop Wednesday night with Betts out, started the scoring on Wednesday with a two-run homer after Rushing doubled.
The support continues on the pitching staff. Wrobleski, the Dodgers’ sixth starter, spun a gem on Monday. With Díaz down on Saturday, Alex Vesia struck out the side in the ninth to secure the save.
As a team, the Dodgers’ offense ranks first in OPS and home runs while their pitching staff ranks second in ERA.
The Mets, with Soto down and Lindor struggling, meanwhile, have not received much help from their supporting cast.
Mets owner Steve Cohen was in attendance on Tuesday night at Dodger Stadium. (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Bo Bichette has started the first year of a three-year, $126 million deal with a .575 OPS. Marcus Semien is batting .182. Jorge Polanco is banged up and hitting .179. Rookie Carson Benge is hitting .151. Luis Robert Jr. has been one of the bright spots, but his .716 OPS isn’t enough to carry the sputtering offense, which was inevitably going to have a spotlight on it after this winter’s obliteration of the team’s nucleus of players.
The early results are … not promising.
