The Mets are now 5-9 in their last 14 games, after they fell to the Washington Nationals 8-4 on Monday.
Here are the takeaways
1. Kyle Schwarber continued his unreal hot streak, taking Jerad Eickhoff deep on the second pitch of the bottom of the first. The next pitch was another home run off the bat of Trea Turner. The next pitch was a double off the center field wall by Juan Soto. Eickhoff did retire the next three batters, avoiding further trouble. Gerardo Parra then led off the second with a solo shot of his own. Schwarber belted another solo homer in the fifth – his 11th in his last nine games (?!) and his 15th in his last 17 (?!).
Out of the 22 batted balls Eickhoff allowed, 13 were hard-hit (at least 95 mph off the bat – and another was 94.8). Despite being hit hard all night, though, he managed to give the Mets six innings on just 74 pitches. In all, he allowed five runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out three.
(For more context, Schwarber has 15 home runs since June 12 - the Mets have 16).
2. The Mets got the tying run at the plate down 3-0 in the top half of the fourth inning with one out, but Billy McKinney flew out, and Kevin Pillar popped out to end the threat.
They finally got on the board with an RBI single from Jeff McNeil in the seventh – it was their first hit with runners in scoring position in six tries – and just their second with guys on base in 11. With a chance to bring the Mets within one, Francisco Lindor struck out to end the inning.
3. The Mets got a bigger jolt in the eighth, though - after a Dom Smith single to lead off the eighth, Pete Alonso and McKinney then hit back-to-back home runs to cut the deficit to just one. Michael Conforto and James McCann pinch-hit for Luis Guillorme and Patrick Mazeika, respectively when the Nats brought in Brad Hand for the five-out save, but Conforto popped out, and McCann struck out to send the game to the bottom of the eighth.
4. Sean Reid-Foley tossed a shutout seventh inning, his third straight scoreless outing, but Miguel Castro allowed a three-run dagger to Ryan Zimmerman in the eighth that put the Nationals up 8-4.
5. The offense continued to not be able to cash in with runners on – with guys on base, the Mets went 3-for-13. With men in scoring position, they went 1-for-7. They are now hitting .165 with runners in scoring position since June 12. With runners on, it's up all the way to .203.