There’s the 1993 movie titled “Sleepless In Seattle’, and then there’s the New York Mets who have been very sleepy in Seattle. Especially their offense, which was shut out by the Seattle Mariners for the second straight game on Saturday 4-0.
Sean Manaea, who had been lights out recently, was knocked around and taken out of the game after three innings. That forced manager Carlos Mendoza to go to his bullpen for the remainder of the game.
Meanwhile, the offense had no answer for Mariners starter Logan Gilbert. As the Mets enter the finale of this 10-game road trip on Sunday, they haven’t looked like a playoff team in this stretch.
Entering Saturday’s outing, Manaea had a 2.28 ERA over his last ten starts. Those include his previous two outings, where he pitched like Sandy Koufax with seven-inning shutouts and struck out a combined 21 batters. Most importantly for Manaea, he kept his walks at a minimum with just one throughout those two starts. On Saturday against the Mariners, however, he was roughed up early in the first inning. He gave up four hits in the frame and allowed three runs as Seattle took an early 3-0 lead. Five walks through the next two innings would end his night. He threw 85 pitches in just 3 innings of work with 3 earned runs, 5 walks, and 3 strikeouts.
The Mets offense is an enigma. They are capable of games such as Thursday in Colorado, where they scored 9 runs on 13 hits. However, they are also capable of what they’ve now done over these first two games in Seattle. No runs. Not a single player stepped on home plate to score a run in the last 19 innings worth of games.
Part of it is the Mariners’ great pitching from Gilbert and Bryce Miller. It is a pattern, however, for this offense throughout the season. They struck out six times and only drew one walk against Mariners pitching. They only had just four hits on the night (two by Francisco Lindor).
Their consistent approach to the plate remains questionable no matter how many lineup changes they make. It won’t get easier for them with the Mariners throwing Luis Castillo at them on Sunday night.
Huascar Brazobán came into the game for Manaea and pitched two shutout innings with three strikeouts to keep the game in reach for the Mets.
The Mets look to avoid a sweep on Sunday night and try to finish off this 10-game road trip on a high note as Luis Severino takes the mound against Castillo and the Mariners. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN at 7:10 p.m. EDT and broadcast on WCBS 880.
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