The New York Mets own one of the highest team payrolls in the MLB. However, that does not mean that they are immune to mental lapses. In the finale of their first road series of the season, the Mets stumbled, losing 2-1 in 11 innings to the St. Louis Cardinals. The loss drops New York to 3-3. More importantly, they’ve lost three of their last four games.
Alongside the mental errors, the lack of offense wasted a stellar pitching outing. First, starter Freddy Peralta struck out seven and walked two batters over 5.1 innings. The ace allowed one earned run in that span. During his 92-pitch outing, Peralta threw 54 strikes. When asked about going deeper into the game, the starter deferred to the manager.
“As a pitcher, I like to compete and keep in the game.”
“As a pitcher, I like to compete…it was smart by Mendy”
Freddy Peralta on exiting the game in the 6th: pic.twitter.com/RZSDLz0oIy
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026
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Lindor’s Awful Day Compounded Team’s Struggles
In the sixth inning, with one out, shortstop Francisco Lindor drew a walk from starter Matthew Libratore. While taking a lead, the Mets’ standout froze, allowing the St. Louis pitcher to fire to first, picking him off. Lindor did not take a step. Additionally, that mistake compounded problems. The next batter, Juan Soto, deposited a Liberatore offering into the right field seats for his first home run of the season.
In the first inning, Lindor took a grounder, jogged to second, and tagged the base, which remains as routine a play as baseball offers. However, he forgot how many outs there were. Instead of a double play, he completed a mere force out.
To start this season, the 32-year-old continues to find his swing. To this point, Lindor sports a batting average of .143. However, some could view his six walks to this point as a sign of better days ahead. After the game, he spoke about the early struggles.
” I still believe in what we have. Stearns and the front office did a good job of putting a good team together. They (St. Louis) executed their game gameplan. We didn’t get the ball up in the air against Pallante.”
Hats off to them—they executed their pitches and their game plan; we didn’t. Hats off to them; they played better.”
Francisco Lindor is not concerned about the Mets’ offense:
“We are a couple pitches away from getting the ball rolling on our side” pic.twitter.com/0OFQu85Bhr
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) April 1, 2026
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RISP Rears Its Ugly Head
Last season, the team’s bugaboo appeared to be batting with runners in scoring position. The series against the Cardinals once more exposed the issue. Sportsnet New York analyst John Harper stated the team went 1-for-29 with runners in scoring position against St. Louis in the three-game series.
By all accounts, the president of baseball operations, David Stearns, preached patience at the plate. To this point, the production is not there. Now, the Mets sport a collective batting average of .228 with 43 strikeouts.
The series-ending loss was no different. New York didn’t reach base on a hit until Mark Vientos doubled to left with two outs in the fifth inning. According to SNY, that double broke a 0-for-22 stretch that dated back to the night before. Manager Carlos Mendoza fielded a question about the differences between last year’s hitters and this year’s team.
Carlos Mendoza is asked about the Mets’ offense this year vs. last year:
“Different guys, different lineups…we’ve got to make some adjustments, but they’re good hitters” pic.twitter.com/zVNisLcqnQ
— SNY (@SNYtv) April 1, 2026
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“Different guys, different lineups…we’ve got to make some adjustments, but they’re good hitters. Right now, for the last couple of games, we haven’t gotten the job done.”
The schedule will not be kind to the Mets as they head to San Francisco for a four-game series against the Giants.
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