Wednesday afternoon’s 6-0 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers wasn’t much to write home about for the Mets, but if there is a silver lining, it’s that the club set a major league record in the process.
Three Mets hitters were hit by pitches on the afternoon – Mark Canha twice and Luis Guillorme once – as the club set a new MLB record with 106 hit batters.
By the looks of things, the moment was not lost on Buck Showalter, as the Mets skipper asked for and received the record-setting ball.
Buck Showalter asked for the ball when the Mets set the Major League record for HBPs 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Vjk9fb6PXG
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) September 21, 2022
"I’d say it would be obscene to tell you what I was going to do with it," Showalter said with a smirk after the game. "No, I haven’t thought about it to be honest with you. I gave it to the hitting coaches. They can do to it what they want.
"And not one of them are intentional, it’s just obviously there’s an issue there somewhere. … Our guys just don’t give. It’s not something they’re doing, it’s just wild pitches. I mean you see them, they’re not close to the plate, they’re all the way across the batter’s boxes.
"It’s frustrating and I’ve got some personal feelings about why it happens so much, but I’m sure MLB doesn’t want to hear about it in this format."
Canha also set an individual Mets record for getting plunked earlier in the game, when he was hit by an Adrian Houser pitch in the third inning, his 23rd HBP of the year. He was then hit by Houser again in the fifth inning, giving him the major league lead over Chicago’s Willson Contreras (23).
"I never know how to answer that question when I’m asked it," Canha replied when asked why he thinks he gets hit so often. "I’m closer to the plate and I don’t move, and I think pitchers pitch in a lot now. It just kind of works out that way."
From a team perspective, Canha wasn't entirely sure why the Mets have gotten hit as much as they have, but he thinks the key is to make it count when the opponent puts runners on base.
"It’s like a broken record at this point," Canha said. "We just kind of roll our eyes when it happens now and move on. There’s nothing you can do except capitalize on it, make it hurt. That’s all you can do."
