Mets Bats Held In Check Again In 2-1 Loss To Astros

If the New York Mets sent out Griffin Canning on the road against the Houston Astros and he gave them a quality outing, you’d think they would’ve gotten a win out of it. Unfortunately, he fell to New York’s slow-starting offense (aside from Juan Soto) and a questionable decision by manager Carlos Mendoza as the team fell to the Astros 2-1 to drop their opening series. 

Canning Impresses In Debut

Asked to step up after injuries to Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas, Canning gave the Mets some solid pitching. Canning threw 5 2/3 innings, with 4 strikeouts, and allowed 2 runs, 2 walks, and 4 hits. He utilized his slider very well and threw it 53% of the time. His only blemishes were a solo home run allowed to Jeremy Peña and an RBI double to Yordan Alvarez. However, he probably never should’ve been in to face Alvarez.

With two outs in the bottom of the 6th and tied 1-1 with a man on second, New York had Jose Buttó warmed up and ready to go. With Alvarez historically having good numbers against Canning, Mendoza could’ve taken his pitcher out in that situation. Mendoza, however, stuck with Canning, and it didn’t pay off. Not even Danny Young or A.J. Minter warmed up to face Alvarez. It was a hard-luck day for Canning, who was otherwise very solid. 

Outside of Soto, the Offense Was Asleep

There were big expectations for this Mets offense heading into Opening Day. However, aside from Soto, they were flat during these first three games. It’s only three games, and it’s not even April, but this series against Houston saw an offense that mostly sleepwalked. Soto’s double in the first inning was the only hit of the game for the Mets. The team went 2-for-21 with RISP in this series, including 0-for-8 on Saturday. That also included Mark Vientos lining out to Peña to end the game with Soto on second after he led off the inning with a walk against Josh Hader.

Soto was the only player on the Mets’ offense who showed what he could do during the opening series; everyone else lagged behind him. That can’t happen throughout the season, especially when the Mets’ offense needs to be productive early as their pitching rotation figures things out. They need to win games like this one, where they get a good outing out of Canning and be better with RISP.

Kranick Gets Two Big Outs

While one gutsy move by Mendoza didn’t pay off, another did. In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Astros loaded the bases against Buttó for their two big power hitters in Alvarez and Christian Walker with a chance to break the game open. The Mets manager decided to go with Max Kranick to face them. Kranick got Alvarez to pop out to Vientos in foul territory and got Walker to ground out and keep the Mets within a run. Kranick had a good season debut and battled through a tough situation. 

Player of The Game: Griffin Canning

Canning gave the Mets a good performance in his season debut against a playoff-caliber team. He just got no support from his offense and got a tough luck loss in the process on his column.

On Deck

The Mets will have an off day on Sunday before heading to Miami to play the Marlins on Monday night. David Peterson will pitch for the Mets against Cal Quantrill. The game will be telecast locally on SNY at 6:40 pm EDT and broadcast on Audacy Mets Radio WHSQ 880AM. 

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