NY Mets: David Wright addresses the meaning of having his No. 5 retired
Before David Wright had his No. 5 retired by the Mets, he spoke to the media about the significance of the event and his 15 years with the team.
NEW YORK — The boos began to cascade down from the top rows at Citi Field in the bottom of the sixth inning and continued with each passing Mets at-bat.
None of the team’s players could put an end to it through the eighth inning. Cleveland Guardians right-handed starting pitcher Gavin Williams was tormenting the home side and their fans.
The Mets were no-hit for 25 outs against the Guardians before Juan Soto provided an abrupt jolt with a ninth-inning solo shot. Yet it was another lifeless performance for the Mets, who dropped a 4-1 result in front of 40,072 fans Wednesday afternoon at Citi Field.
“I really don’t know what’s going on, but definitely we have the talent and the guys that are capable to do damage here” Soto said. “I think one day it’s going to turn around.”
But Wednesday’s listless loss felt like a wave of ice-cold water on the Mets’ 2025 season. Sure, they are 63-52 and inside the National League Wild Card race but the offense, which was expected to be the foundational piece of this season’s team, had reached a new low.
[It’s hard to kind of just pinpoint one thing,” Carlos Mendoza said. “You look at the game today or the past few days, we’re going in with a game plan and we haven’t been able to make adjustments as they’re making adjustments to us as a whole, us as a team.”
The loss was the Mets’ fourth straight and eighth in their last nine games.
The only solace for the Mets came away from their home field, where the Phillies were taken down by the Orioles in Philadelphia to keep the margin at 2.5 games between the National League East foes.
Another harsh loss continues struggles
The Mets went without a hit for 15 innings between Tuesday and Wednesday’s losses after they were held in check after the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s 3-2 loss after striking twice in the opening two innings.
On Wednesday, Francisco Lindor tagged a sharp line drive that knocked Williams’ glove off his hand to lead off the game but that was a fleeting close call. C.J. Kayfus dove forward in right field to rob Mark VIentos of a hit in the seventh inning.
The only baserunners for the Mets through the opening eight innings Wednesday were Brandon Nimmo, who walked in the second and third innings, and Cedric Mullins, who also walked in the bottom of the second. Williams struck out six batters across 8â…” innings while picking up 13 ground outs and four flyouts.
“Trusting their abilities, trusting the work, their preparation and going out there and competing. Trusting your plan,” Mendoza said of the message to his team. “When you see guys taking pitches to hit, when you see guys kind of like in between, we’re not seeing conviction. For me, we just got to go out there with conviction, stick to your plan, stick to your approach.”
In five out of their last nine games during their recent rut, the Mets have scored three runs or fewer. Since the start of June, the Mets have MLB’s fifth-lowest team batting average and sixth-lowest wOBA.
Juan Soto breaks up bid with a blast
Soto saved this version of the Mets from a becoming a piece of unfortunate history.
“I wasn’t thinking about a no-hitter or anything,” Soto said. “Just working on my swing so we keep trying to do the same thing we’ve been doing since the first inning and I just came through.”
The Mets had been held without a hit five times in their history, with the last no-hitter coming on Oct. 3, 2015, when then-Nationals starter Max Scherzer struck out 17 batters with Yunel Escobar committing a Nationals error.
They had a close call last season when J.D. Martinez broke up a Braves no-hit attempt with a two-out, opposite-field home run with two outs in the ninth inning on May 11, 2024.
Soto’s home run was his 26th of the season and first since July 27. It was an encouraging sign for Soto, who across the Mets’ last five series was batting 10-for-60 (.167) with two home runs, seven RBI, six runs and 12 strikeouts.
“The past couple of games there’s some signs there that he’s more balanced, he’s connected, he’s short to the ball,” Mendoza said.
David Peterson suffers fifth loss
David Peterson had been the Mets’ most successful stopper throughout the season.
Instead, he allowed more than two runs for the first time since June 27 when he gave up a second-inning solo shot to David Fry and a two-run shot to Angel Martinez in the top of the third.
The Guardians tacked on one more run off the Mets left-hander on an RBI triple by Gabriel Arias in the top of the sixth inning. He finished with four earned runs allowed on five hits and two walks while striking out seven in six innings. The loss dropped him to 7-5 and moved his ERA to 2.98.
But Peterson would have needed to provide a near-perfect performance to lift up his side on Wednesday.
“I see the work that these guys put in and I know how talented they are. I think we all do,” Peterson said. “You don’t come thinking that they’re not going to get any runs or a guy’s going to take a no-hitter into the ninth. I have full confidence when I walk into the ballpark on my start days that the hitters are ready to go, the guys on defense are ready to go.”