The Mets were shut out by Adam Wainwright and the Cardinals on Monday night, pushing New York to 5.5 games back of first place in the NL East and 3.5 back of the final Wild Card spot.
In their latest collective offensive slump, the Mets couldn’t get a spark from two of their expected key contributors in Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil.
Alonso, who went 0-for-3 with a walk and two strikeouts, is now hitless in his last 16 at-bats and two for his last 24, going cold at a time where New York desperately needs a pick-me-up in its final push for a playoff spot.
A frustrated Alonso struck out against Alex Reyes in the eighth with two on and the Mets down three, but Luis Rojas says Alonso is still his typical optimistic and confident self, even if his strikeout preceded a defensive miscue on Alonso’s end that resulted in a botched rundown and a four-run ninth for the Cardinals.
“Before that inning, he was the same guy as if he were on fire or on a hot streak, whatever you want to call it,” Rojas said. “I don’t think he’s trying to do too much. He’s put the barrel on the ball a few times in those 16 at-bats. We saw over the weekend where he threw the ball hard a few times.”
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Alonso did drive a deep fly ball to the warning track against the Yankees in a key spot on Saturday night, but his last six games haven’t yielded any results, and time is ticking down on opportunities to close the gap in the playoff race.
“He walked in his first at-bat, then he faced Wainwright a couple more times and then had to face Reyes,” Rojas said. “He’s wildly effective and with that stuff, he’s not easy to hit.”
McNeil had similar struggles, going 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts and is now batting just .201 with a .539 OPS since Aug. 1. McNeil had two multi-hit games against the Yankees over the weekend, but his power has not been present, hitting just one over the last two months after hitting 23 in his All-Star 2019 campaign.
“I think he’s beating himself up,” Rojas said. “He’s tough on himself. He wants the best of himself all the time. Even at-bat to at-bat, he’ll do it. but he’ll recover.
“After the game he’ll be tough on himself like he is, that’s just him, but he’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”
The Mets as a whole will have to be ready to rebound on Tuesday, but particularly McNeil and Alonso, who could help New York make one last dash for October if they could get the bats going.
“We all are frustrated,” Rojas said. “It’s a tough loss. We’ll be OK tomorrow.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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