Mets’ latest troubling trend is making matters worse for floundering offense
The Mets have now lost seven games in a row and face Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani
LOS ANGELES — With a chance to snap their losing streak and break through on offense in a critical spot on Tuesday night, the Mets produced three of their worst at-bats of the entire season to date. Jorge Polanco, Bo Bichette and Francisco Alvarez struck out in order against Dodgers left-hander Alex Vesia in the top of the ninth, the final three outs of a 2-1 loss for the Mets, their seventh in a row. It wasn’t the fact that they punched out.
It was the swing decisions. Vesia needed only 10 pitches in that inning to strike out the side. Of those 10 pitches, only one of them was in the strike zone.
Polanco took a called strike to begin the frame and then those three hitters — the meat of the Mets’ order — chased eight pitches out of the zone. They swung and missed at seven of them. “Ultra aggressive,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the loss.
“We just went out of the strike zone. We chased. It’s hard to score in situations like that.