CHICAGO \u2014 If there is a baseball hell, the Mets have found it and are threatening to establish permanent residence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The elements of disappointment change daily, but the constant is the Mets lose. And lose. And lose.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday their futility reached double digits. They fell 4-2 to the Cubs at Wrigley Field for a 10th straight loss \u2014 one short of the club\u2019s longest losing streak in 22 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Manager Carlos Mendoza was later asked if he had a message for the team\u2019s fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have all the right to be pissed and frustrated,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cThey care, just like we do. We care here. We want to win as much as they do. There\u2019s [only] so much I can say here, because we have got to go out and do it. I understand how they are feeling. I would be pissed, too, if I am a fan. I\u2019m pissed. They\u2019re pissed.\u201d The Mets avoided the embarrassment of a day earlier, when Kodai Senga\u2019s awful performance and sloppy defense were on display, but still played badly enough to continue their free fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That meant an anemic offensive showing and a sixth-inning breakdown by Freddy Peralta and Brooks Raley.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peralta was rolling for a second straight start, but lost the strike zone with two outs in the sixth in a 1-1 game, walking Ian Happ and Seiya Suzuki. Mendoza summoned Raley and one pitch later the game tilted: pinch hitter Carson Kelly blasted a three-run homer. The Mets never recovered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chicago Cubs pinch-hitter Carson Kelly (15) runs the bases after hitting a three-run homer against the New York Mets during the sixth inning at Wrigley Field on April 18, 2026. David Banks-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
It marked the eighth time in the losing streak the Mets scored two runs or fewer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery game has been different,\u201d Marcus Semien said. \u201cWe want to play better as an offense. Giving up some big homers kind of hurt us, but we\u2019ve lost a lot of different ways. There\u2019s no pointing a finger at anything right now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peralta allowed three earned runs on three hits and two walks with three strikeouts over 5 \u00b2\/\u2083 innings. His shortcoming was failing to record the final out in the sixth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets pitcher Brooks Raley returns to the dugout after a pitching change during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Chicago. AP<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to keep grinding and keep competing and trying to get better and win some games,\u201d Peralta said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Mark Vientos\u2019 homer in the second gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Vientos jumped on a four-seamer from Jameson Taillon and blasted it 434 feet to the left field bleachers for his second homer this season. Later in the inning, Semien singled and Carson Benge walked before Bo Bichette was retired to end the threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Happ\u2019s homer leading off the bottom of the inning tied it 1-1. Peralta plunked Suzuki and allowed a single to Miguel Amaya, escaping trouble by retiring Pete Crow-Armstrong and Dansby Swanson in succession.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets\u2019 Mark Vientos (27) returns to the dugout after being forced out during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs, Saturday, April 18, 2026, in Chicago. AP<\/p>\n
Luis Robert Jr. singled in the third inning and was thrown out attempting to steal second. Semien walked leading off the fifth, but the inning concluded with Bichette\u2019s double-play grounder. MJ Melendez drew a two-out walk in the sixth before Taillon retired Alvarez.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we had some decent at-bats, created some traffic, hit some balls hard,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cBut the times we had runners on base we couldn\u2019t get that big hit. We are just having a hard time putting a rally together.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peralta got two quick outs in the sixth, but never concluded the inning. Happ walked before Peralta ran the count full to Suzuki and threw a slider that missed low and away. Raley replaced Peralta and Kelly crushed his first pitch over the left field wall to bury the Mets in a 4-1 hole.\u00a0<\/p>\n
New York Mets\u2019 Marcus Semien (10) returns to the dugout after striking out during the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Chicago Cubs. AP<\/p>\n
Freddy Peralta of the New York Mets pitches during the first inning against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Nico Hoerner\u2019s throwing error gave the Mets an unearned run in the eighth after Bichette and Francisco Lindor had singled in the inning. Vientos, batting with the tying runs on base and two outs, grounded out to end the threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taillon stifled the Mets, allowing one earned run on five hits and three walks over six innings. The right-hander was removed after 100 pitches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re putting ourselves in a big hole right now,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cBut there is only one way to do it and that is just come back tomorrow ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 If there is a baseball hell, the Mets have found it and are threatening to establish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":678991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2396],"tags":[5,24,753,101,4,1690,61,2548,4203,185],"class_list":{"0":"post-678990","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-chicago-cubs","10":"tag-freddy-peralta","11":"tag-mets","12":"tag-mlb","13":"tag-new-york","14":"tag-new-york-mets","15":"tag-newyork","16":"tag-newyorkmets","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116430664077606010","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678990","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=678990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/678990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/678991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=678990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=678990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=678990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}