After a less-than-encouraging series to start the homestand, the Mets (7-6) will try to conclude on a higher note as they welcome the Oakland Sacramento Athletics (5-7) to Citi Field. The two teams squared off in California last April, with New York besting the A\u2019s in two out of the three games.<\/p>\n
The weather was cold, and the Mets\u2019 bats were colder in a series loss to the Diamondbacks in which they won the first game 4-3 in walk-off fashion<\/a> but fell 7-2 on Wednesday<\/a> and 7-1 on Thursday<\/a>. Tuesday\u2019s win saw the Mets jump out 2-0 by the second inning before their bats disappeared until the eighth. Arizona put up a three-spot\u2014aided by an ABS challenge overturn that directly led to the three runs\u2014in the fifth, but the Mets scratched out a run on a sacrifice fly in the eighth to knot up the game. That set the stage for Ronny Mauricio to play hero, as Juan Soto\u2019s roster replacement lined a single in the tenth in his first at-bat of the year to give New York the win.<\/p>\n The good vibes were shortlived, as the team appeared lifeless in their loss on Wednesday afternoon\u2014like on Tuesday, this game was moved up to 4:10pm to deal with cold conditions, in front of a sparse and bundled-up crowd at Citi Field. David Peterson allowed five runs through the first two frames, and New York really could not recover. Sean Manaea was mostly solid in relief, but gave up two runs on a ball that Luis Robert Jr. dropped in the ninth. Nolan McLean took the mound on Thursday and was dominant, allowing just one hit through five and pitching into the seventh. However, with a 1-0 lead and two runners on, he was removed in favor of Luke Weaver, who had his first rough outing as a Met as he blew the lead and allowed four runs\u2014two charged to McLean, and two charged to his ledger. Luis Garc\u00eda allowed three in the eighth to put the game well out of New York\u2019s reach.<\/p>\n The returns so far in Soto\u2019s absence has been mixed. After an offensive outburst in the 2 8\/9 games he missed in San Francisco, the Mets\u2019 lineup looked listless. Some of it could likely be attributed to cold conditions and a lack of enthusiasm from the crowd, but it\u2019s also hard to deny that the lineup generally looks a lot emptier without Soto\u2019s bat in the lineup. With guys like Francisco Lindor continuing to struggle, and Jorge Polanco missing some time due to his achilles, it\u2019s putting a lot of pressure on newcomers like Robert and Bo Bichette to pick up the slack, and an added burden on youngers like Mark Vientos, Brett Baty, and Francisco Alvarez to become impact bats in the lineup.<\/p>\n The A\u2019s are coming off a series win in the Bronx, as they took two out of three from the Yankees. This follows a series in which they took two of three at home from the Astros. They did so in vastly different ways: They used offense to topple Houston, winning by scores of 11-4 and 12-0 (while losing the middle game 12-0), while their pitching excelled at Yankee Stadium, with 3-2 and 1-0 wins after losing the first game 5-3. The former should be no surprise, given how offense-friendly their temporary home ballpark has proven to be.<\/p>\n Shea Langaliers has gotten off to a torrid start this season for the A\u2019s, slashing .289\/.333\/.644 with a 182 wRC+ and a 0.6 fWAR in 48 plate appearances. Among qualified American League bats, he\u2019s 11th in wRC+ and tied for 15th in fWAR. Meanwhile, his five home runs are tied for the league lead, while his .978 OPS is 11th in the league, just ahead of teammate Max Muncy. Speaking of Muncy, he has a 161 wRC+ and a 0.4 fWAR in the same number of plate appearances, with two home runs and a team-leading 11 runs scored. Checking in on old friend Jeff McNeil, he has a 92 WRC+ and 0.1 fWAR in 35 plate appearances so far in his new home, and has a .258\/.343\/.290 slash line so far.<\/p>\n Friday, April 10: Clay Holmes vs. J.T. Ginn, 7:10 PM EDT on WPIX<\/p>\n Holmes (2026): 12.2 IP, 9 K, 5 BB, 1 HR, 1.42 ERA, 3.98 FIP, 39 ERA-<\/p>\n Holmes hurled seven shutout frames in his last outing as he earned his second win in as many starts this season. He was efficient with his pitches, throwing 90 across the seven frames, with 61 of them (68%) going for strikes. He issued two walks and struck our four, and he limited San Francisco to just three hits in the win. Holmes continues to excel as a starter, and he\u2019s once again been one of the anchors to the team\u2019s rotation early on in the season.<\/p>\n Ginn (2026): 7.0 IP, 4 K, 2 BB, 1 HR, 5.14 ERA, 4.76 FIP, 120 ERA-<\/p>\n