Before the Mets welcomed the Dodgers to Citi Field this weekend — the start of a 13-game gauntlet against the Dodgers and Giants that could make or break their season — Pete Alonso called it a “show-me stretch.”
With three games in the books, the Mets have absolutely nothing to show for it.
After hanging their hat on taking the Dodgers to extra innings in each of the first two games, only to drop both, the Mets suffered a full-on blowout Sunday night to get swept with a 14-4 loss at Citi Field.
Carlos Carrasco got shelled for six runs and three homers while lasting just two innings. The Mets (59-58) couldn’t get anything going against Max Scherzer — despite the Dodgers’ lackluster defense giving them plenty of chances early to get back in the game — and went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
“The guys kept battling, but we couldn’t stop them,” manager Luis Rojas said. “It’s a tough series, not to get one win out of it.”
By the time Max Muncy had hit his second home run of the night in the sixth inning to push the Dodgers’ lead to 9-2, chants of “Let’s Go Dodgers” filled Citi Field. Later, the Mets needed two position players, Brandon Drury and Kevin Pillar, to pitch the ninth inning.
And if all that wasn’t enough, awaiting the Mets (after their cross-country flight late Sunday night) on Monday in San Francisco? The team with the best record in baseball.
The Dodgers (72-46) ambushed Carrasco, who now owns a 10.32 ERA after four starts as a Met. Ex-Met Justin Turner crushed a two-run homer to left-center field before Will Smith added a two-out solo shot for a 3-0 lead in the first inning. It was Smith’s third home run of the series — the first gave the Dodgers a lead in the 10th inning Friday night and the second broke up Taijuan Walker’s no-hitter and tied the game in the seventh inning on Saturday.
Cody Bellinger led off the second inning with a double ripped to the gap and then scored on Trea Turner’s RBI double. Muncy came up next and made it 6-0 with a two-run homer sent 420 feet to left field.
“They hit everything, man,” said Carrasco, who needed 57 pitches to record six outs. “I tried to do my best. I tried to do everything that I could, but it didn’t work this time.”
After the Mets wasted a two-on, one-out scenario in the first inning, a Dodgers error put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the second. Carrasco laid down a sacrifice bunt — with manager Luis Rojas not turning to a pinch hitter from his four-man bench — but Brandon Nimmo followed with a groundout to strand runners at second and third.
Even after Carrasco hit for himself, Jake Reed relieved him to begin the third inning and delivered three scoreless innings to help save an already tired bullpen.
The Mets finally pushed a run across in the third inning on a groundout by Jeff McNeil to make it 6-1. An inning later, they loaded the bases with one out, but again missed a chance to put a dent into the Dodgers’ lead, scratching across just one run on Conforto’s groundout that made it 6-2.
“The extra-base hit didn’t happen like it happened on their side,” Rojas said. “We played a couple tight games the first two nights, but the hitting’s gotta show up. That’s the bottom line.”
The Mets got two runs back in the seventh inning off the Dodgers bullpen, but they came on a wild pitch and a J.D. Davis sacrifice fly to get within 9-4. The Dodgers then hung another three-spot in the eighth inning off Geoff Hartlieb before adding two more runs off Drury in the ninth.
“We gotta turn the page,” Rojas said. “It’s just one game.”