Nimmo, Offense Fighting Through Funk

Brandon Nimmo is 0-for-9 with six strikeouts in his last two games and has struck out at least once in 11 consecutive contests. He was asked after the Mets’ 3-2 loss to the Guardians at Citi Field on Tuesday how he felt at the plate.

“Not great, but that happens and we’ll get through it,” he said. “Just go and compete. But, yeah, this is part of baseball and you just have to grind through it. There’s really no escaping it.

“Usually, everyone goes through it … even an MVP-caliber year, usually you’ll find them struggling for a couple of weeks or so. So it’s just part of the game. You don’t know when it’s gonna happen or why. Sometimes you just run into some tough times for a little bit.”

“Tough couple of games,” manager Carlos Mendoza said when asked about Nimmo. “Swinging through fastballs. They are doing a good job of attacking him and game planning against him. You gotta give those guys credit. Nims has been swinging the bat, other than the past two days … he’s been one of the most consistent guys in our lineup. But I feel like they are executing their game plan and they are giving him a hard time.”

Guardians lefty starter Logan Allen held the Mets to two runs on four hits over five innings. Lefties have given the Mets problems all year. The team entered Tuesday slashing .225/.301/.353 against them, which ranks 26th/18th/23rd in MLB.

The numbers for Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso and Mark Vientos are all down vs. lefties this year compared to last, a fact that seemed to puzzle Mendoza after the game.

“Eventually, it’s gonna turn,” the manager said. “But as a whole, we’re having a hard time putting a rally together, being consistent against lefties. I’m anticipating this to turn here quickly.”

Lindor’s OPS vs. lefties was .640 entering Tuesday vs. .868 in 2024. Alonso’s was down 59 points to .744, and Vientos’ fall off has been the most dramatic – from .884 to .584.

Lindor did hit three balls with exit velocities over 100 mph on Tuesday, but had nothing to show for it. A 104 mph grounder up the middle with the bases loaded in the second inning was turned into an inning-ending double play.

The Mets didn’t score after the second inning, didn’t get a hit after the fourth, and Guardian pitchers set down 14 in a row to end the game.

“We didn’t create anything,” Mendoza said. “We didn’t hit many balls hard … we just didn’t put anything together. They got us today and we gotta turn the page obviously. Not good today.”

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