Mets Notes: Sean Manaea’s struggles continue, Francisco Alvarez’s ice-cold homestand
· Yahoo Sports
Francisco Alvarez was one of the Mets’ most productive hitters early-on this season, but the young backstop has cooled off tremendously of late.
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Alvarez’s struggles continued with another hitless showing in Wednesday's loss.
He failed to deliver in some pretty big spots as well -- first striking out looking with two men on and just one out trailing by a pair in the bottom of the first.
After going down looking for a second time two innings later, he came up with two on again in the fifth, and this time put the ball in play but rolled into a rally-killing double play.
It was Alvarez’s sixth double play of the season, tying his total from all of last year.
He completed the hat-trick of backwards K’s leading off the bottom of the eighth, working the count full before striking out looking with the game well out of reach.
The 24-year-old is now 0-for-his-last-12, and he’s just 3-for-23 in his last seven games.
“He’s a little bit in between here,” Carlos Mendoza said. “He’s going out of the zone but then taking good pitches to hit -- he started off good for us, and then the past week or so it’s been a battle for him.”
Alvarez is down to a .217 average with two doubles, four homers, 21 strikeouts, and .691 OPS on the season.
Manaea going through it in relief
David Peterson was knocked around in his return to the rotation, lasting just 3.2 innings on Wednesday, and things really spiraled out of control when he left.
The left-hander's night came to a close after forcing in a run with a bases loaded walk of James Wood with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.
Sean Manaea came on to try and limit the damage, but he ended up hitting the first batter he faced then gave up a grand slam to put this one away for good.
Manaea ate the next two innings, stretching out to 73 pitches, but he continued to be knocked around from there.
He was pulled after giving up a two-run double two Wood in the seventh.
“He comes in, hit by pitch on a sweeper and then he’s trying to go with a fastball up in the zone and just leaves it right there for the grand slam,” Mendoza said. “Then he just got hit today.”
This continues what’s been a rough stretch for Manaea working out of the bullpen.
His ERA is up to an ugly 6.55 for the year as he's allowed runs in all but one of his five April appearances.
Positives from Edwards Jr.
Though the game was long out of reach at that point, the Mets did see another encouraging outing from Carl Edwards Jr. behind Manaea.
The veteran provided length again and was very effective, striking out six batters across 2.2 innings of work.
His lone run came on a homer in the top of the ninth.
Edwards Jr. has now struck out 11, through his first two appearances as a Met.