Amazin\u2019 Avenue<\/a>
Viva El Birdos<\/a><\/p>\n
Kodai Senga\u2019s first start of the season went well, but the Mets\u2019 lineup was lifeless as the team lost 3-0 to the lowly Cardinals tonight in St. Louis.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to come out of seeing your team get shut out by an unimpressive cast of pitchers, but let\u2019s start with the positive. Senga continued to hit the high-90s with his fastball, and he struck out nine and walked three in six innings of work. Officially, he gave up two earned runs, but even those were not entirely his fault.<\/p>\n
Luis Robert Jr. came to the Mets as a sure-thing great defender in center field who\u2019s struggled to stay healthy and was coming off back-to-back disappointing years at the plate. He\u2019s been a hot hitter to start his Mets tenure, but the noteworthy defense in center was notably missing in the bottom of the third tonight. Victor Scott II led off the inning with a well-struck ball to center, but it was one that a good defender should\u2019ve caught.<\/p>\n
Instead, Robert Jr. misread it, and Scott wound up on second base with a double as a result. On an ensuing single to center by JJ Wetherholt, Robert Jr. missed the cutoff man as Scott stopped at third, allowing Wetherholt to advance to second unnecessarily. Iv\u00e1n Herrera then doubled to left field to plate both of those runners.<\/p>\n
That was effectively when the game ended. Despite the fact that they were facing a starting pitcher who had a 5.31 ERA last year and a bullpen that included Ryne Stanek, the Mets mustered up just three hits in total. Their best chance at scoring came in the top of the sixth, as Juan Soto smoked a double to begin the inning and was followed by Bo Bichette drawing a walk.<\/p>\n
But Robert Jr. flew out to center, and Jared Young lined out to shortstop. Bichette didn\u2019t get the best read on that line drive, and he was doubled off first.<\/p>\n
Carlos Mendoza opted to turn the game over to Richard Lovelady in the bottom of the seventh, and while you can feel for the person for having been designated for assignment by the same team so many times over the past year, you can\u2019t help but wonder why the Mets have a payroll that far exceeds $300 million but continue to acquire and roster a pitcher like him.<\/p>\n
Lovelady served up a solo home run to Ram\u00f3n Urias to lead off his first frame. If there was a silver lining in this game, it was the fact that Lovelady didn\u2019t give up any more runs and soaked up the eighth inning, too, to keep the rest of the Mets\u2019 bullpen fresh.<\/p>\n
And if you\u2019re looking to end this recap on an upbeat note, well, the Mets have a chance to win the series in St. Louis tomorrow at 1:15 PM EDT with Freddy Peralta on the mound. Here\u2019s hoping they can score for him.<\/p>\n
![\"FanGraphs](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2026-03-31-fangraphs-wpa.png\"\/)
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