The New York Mets have struggled for most of their first 62 games of the season.
The San Diego Padres are stuck in their worst slump of the campaign.
The Padres will look for better fortunes on Friday night when the clubs open a three-game weekend series in San Diego.
New York has won five of its last seven games, including Wednesday’s 7-1 triumph in Seattle that allowed the Mets to avoid a series sweep.
San Diego has dropped five straight games and nine of 10, including a 6-4 loss Thursday in Philadelphia that concluded a season sweep by the Phillies.
It’s no mystery why the Padres are losing. Their offense simply isn’t getting the job done, no matter which lineup first-year manager Craig Stammen uses. San Diego has just 26 runs in the last 10 games and ranks last in the majors in runs (235), batting average (.216) and on-base percentage (.291).
“Everybody’s trying to press a little bit,” Stammen said. “We’re trying to be perfect … this isn’t our best baseball, but it’s not who we are as a team. We’re working every day in a good way, but we’re not seeing the results we want on the field.
“That’s the nature of a long season.”
The lack of run production is putting too much pressure on the team’s pitching and defense, which buckled under the strain in the last five games of the road trip through Washington and Philadelphia. The Padres allowed 25 runs and didn’t play their cleanest defense.
They’ll hope for a strong start on Friday from right-hander Michael King (4-4, 3.18 ERA) in their return home. King is coming off a 9-4 loss Saturday in Washington, yielding five runs on five hits and a walk in six-plus innings.
In his career against the Mets, the former New York Yankee is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in seven outings (three starts).
Opposing King will be right-hander Christian Scott (1-0, 2.97), who snapped a 15-start winless streak Saturday in a 6-1 decision over Miami. He struck out a career-high eight in five innings, permitting one run on five hits and two walks. This will be his first career appearance against San Diego.
New York’s offense hasn’t been much better than the Padres’, ranking last in slugging percentage (.359) and 29th in on-base percentage (.293). But it has perked up a bit over the last week, recording 41 runs in the last seven games.
Bo Bichette had four hits in Wednesday’s win over Seattle, including a two-run single in a four-run fourth inning. Bichette was hitless in his previous 13 at-bats before that game and was hearing boos from Mets fans.
“That’s all I want is to help the team win,” said Bichette, who is batting just .226 with five homers and 31 RBIs.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza pointed out following Wednesday’s win that Bichette hasn’t had much luck, citing a spate of hard-hit balls that have gone for outs.
“Hopefully, now he continues to get results and he gets going here,” Mendoza said. “I feel like this guy has been very unlucky. He’s a great hitter.”
The Padres took four of the teams’ six matchups last year, sweeping a late July series at home.
–Field Level Media
