{"id":140481,"date":"2025-06-29T22:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T22:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/140481\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T22:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T22:24:10","slug":"mets-players-only-meeting-does-nothing-as-pirates-embarrass-them-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/140481\/","title":{"rendered":"Mets’ players-only meeting does nothing as Pirates embarrass them again"},"content":{"rendered":"

PITTSBURGH \u2014 From deciding to meet<\/a> to dead meat, the Mets\u2019 weekend by the Three Rivers couldn\u2019t have proceeded much worse.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rule No. 1 for players only meetings is generally to hold them a night before your ace is scheduled to pitch. <\/p>\n

But the Mets barely have five pitchers to fill out a starting rotation these days, never mind an ace.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So, it was on Frankie Montas\u2019 right arm Sunday to help turn the previous night\u2019s open forum among players into something positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montas flopped and the lineup was unresponsive, leaving the Mets floating face down in the Allegheny in a 12-1 loss at PNC Park that completed the Pirates\u2019 three-game sweep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mets, who lost for the 13th time in 16 games, were outscored by an embarrassing 30-4 in losing three games to the NL Central\u2019s basement-dwellers \u2014 a team that began the weekend on pace for 100 losses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Pirates\u2019 Tommy Pham, center, rounds the bases after hitting a solo home run off Mets pitcher Frankie Montas, left, during the first inning of a baseball game in Pittsburgh on June 29, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all frustrated,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019re better than that and they know that. It\u2019s a tough stretch and we have got to be better and it starts with me. I continue to support the guys, but obviously we\u2019re not happy about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Francisco Lindor, who took ownership Saturday for his recent uninspiring play, was again part of the problem. <\/p>\n

The shortstop finished 0-for-4 and saw his OPS for June dip to .628.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He was asked if the word \u201cembarrassment\u201d was appropriate for the team\u2019s showing over the past three games.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a big league team on the other side,\u201d Lindor said. \u201cWith that being said, there\u2019s a sense of like, yeah, we\u2019re frustrated. We\u2019re not winning, but at the end of the day it\u2019s just part of the adversity we\u2019re dealing with right now. We\u2019re going to stick together and continue to play hard and hopefully once we\u2019re out of it we don\u2019t go back to something like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Jeff McNeil, who was among the roughly half-dozen players who spoke during Saturday\u2019s meeting, compared this stretch to the Mets\u2019 early doldrums last season. <\/p>\n

The team, which fell 11 games below .500 on June 2, got rolling and ultimately advanced deep into the postseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did play so well in the first two months of the season,\u201d McNeil said, referring to this year\u2019s 45-24 start before this recent free fall. \u201cWe played really well and got a nice lead and kind of gave that back, so we have got to find it again.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McNeil revealed some of what he told teammates during Saturday\u2019s meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFind a way to get stuff done,\u201d McNeil said. \u201cLook at what has been working and what hasn\u2019t been and find those fields again. And talk to coaches, talk to players and figure out what you need to do to get better and help us win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mets first baseman Pete Alonso lies in the batter\u2019s box after getting out of the way of a high inside pitch in the fourth inning against the Pirates on June 29, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

Instead of a comfortable weekend following a rough stretch against NL East foes, the Mets\u2019 weaknesses were further exposed. <\/p>\n

On this day, the Pirates jumped on Montas \u2014 in his second start off the injured list \u2014 and scored five runs on four hits and a walk in the first inning.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montas\u2019 undoing in the first inning occurred with two outs. After Ke\u2019Bryan Hayes stroked a single for two runs, Oneil Cruz launched a two-run homer that placed the Mets in a 4-0 hole. <\/p>\n

Juan Soto looks on from the Mets\u2019 dugout during the seventh inning of a blowout loss to the Pirates on June 29, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tommy Pham followed with a homer, and by the time Montas recorded the third out, the Pirates had sent eight batters to the plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Henry Davis and Adam Frazier delivered consecutive singles to begin the second, and Andrew McCutchen\u2019s sacrifice fly extended the Pirates lead to 6-0. <\/p>\n

Montas was at 50 pitches as the inning concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After Richard Lovelady and Dedniel N\u00fa\u00f1ez combined for three innings with four runs allowed, outfielder Travis Jankowski pitched the eighth and surrendered another two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Luis Torrens\u2019 homer in the fifth got the Mets their only run. It was the second homer of the season for Torrens, who began the day with a microscopic .239 OPS for June.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether it\u2019s the starting pitching, offense, whether it\u2019s the bullpen or defense, we\u2019re not playing well,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cWe\u2019re better than that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PITTSBURGH \u2014 From deciding to meet to dead meat, the Mets\u2019 weekend by the Three Rivers couldn\u2019t have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,227,1325,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,64,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-140481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-mets","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-francisco-lindor","10":"tag-frankie-montas","11":"tag-mets","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkmets","17":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114769000184886720","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}