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Some help arrived for the Mets on Saturday, but left-hander Daniel Vogelbach was in the dugout, not the lineup.
And on another quiet night for their at-bats and with a 1-9 looking the same as it was months ago, the Mets seemed to need more reinforcements.
They made a clear case for adding another right hitter when they were silenced 2-1 by the Padres in front of 39,359 at Citi Field on a muggy summer night and lost a third straight game for the second time this season.
The Mets fell to 58-37 and their NL East lead shrank to just a half game ahead of the Braves after their loss and Atlanta’s 7-2 win over the Angels. The Mets had a 10 1/2 game lead in early June.
It lasted until the ninth inning, but the Mets eventually mounted a rally to avoid being shut out. JD Davis, holding on to a thread at his right-hitting DH spot, shot a single into right field to hit Pete Alonso. But with runners in the corners, Tomas Nido – who batted despite a hand bruise sustained the night before while Jeff McNeil was unused on the bench – jumped into second to end the threat against Padres closer Taylor Rogers.
Manager Buck Showalter said McNeil was available to bat at left Rogers but he was comfortable with Nido in the spot. The Mets’ problems, however, outweighed the choice for the last batter of the game.
“We had some chances, we put some people out there,” Showalter said after his team went 1-on-9 with runners in goal position. “We just couldn’t pull off that shot to get over the hump.”
With a right-heavy lineup including Davis (2-on-4 with two strikeouts) at DH against left Blake Snell, the Mets pinned eight runners in another night when big hits were absent. They have scored 10 runs in their last five games.
Chris Bassitt (seven innings, two runs) was outstanding in a start where he briefly flirted with perfection, but even perfection might not have been enough because the Mets offense had no pulse.
Starling Marte was the surprising biggest culprit. The right fielder struck out three times during a 0-on-4 night, leaving three on base.
Vogelbach, the slugger acquired by the Pirates on Friday, is a rights killer who is likely to make his Mets debut on Sunday. His DH partner at the moment is Davis, who headed back to the dugout after his seventh-inning strikeout to hearing boos from a crowd that will likely see another right DH in the final months of the season.
Davis was a problem but wasn’t the problem on Saturday. The Mets put a runner in goal position in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings, and came away empty-handed each time.
“They found a way to cross two. It doesn’t usually get up,” Showalter said. “There is only one place here where [runs] are hard to come by. I am very confident that this will change.”
The odds dried up after Snell was picked up, until an ultimately disappointing ninth place.
While the offense squandered its opportunities, Bassitt didn’t squander pitches.
A Padres bat didn’t reach base until the fifth and San Diego didn’t score until the sixth — amid controversial circumstances.
Bassitt, who hit 11 to set a career high, went none, hitting a batter with one throw and giving up four hits. It seemed like he was past the sixth inning when a top-of-the-zone slider surprised Manny Machado, who saw him slide past. Bassitt had taken several steps toward the dugout when he realized what could have been strike three was actually ball one, according to referee Jim Wolfe.
When asked how he saw the pitch, Bassitt said, “Like everyone else. But it’s part of the game. It’s okay that he missed it. After that, I just have to do the pitch a lot better.”
The next pitch — a “terrible” slider, Bassitt said — slid to center of the plate, and Machado blasted it into left field for a two-barrel home run, sending Bassitt into a deep crouch and the park into a stunned silence.
The momentum ruined a brilliant performance by the Mets righty, who has strung together six straight quality starts since a 3¹/₃ inning and seven runs against the Padres on June 8, during which he posted a 2.43 ERA.
Bassitt has been on form, and there are clear opportunities for the Mets to enter the postseason with a potentially dominant rotation if Jacob deGrom returns and his health continues.
But the rotation was a long way from the Mets’ heads. Some offensive help had arrived, but clearly not enough with a week and a half to close.
