FLUSHING, NY — Juan Soto from all indications was not allowing Guardians’ Gavin Williams to achieve the no-hitter at Citi Field Wednesday afternoon. The Mets with one out in the ninth inning were headed to an eighth no-hitter pitched against them in their franchise history.
But Soto had other ideas and continued the 44-year-old drought of no-hit baseball for the once proud Indians known as the Guardians, a ninth-inning home run to center that went over the glove of Angel Martínez. Williams was superb, in control, had the velocity on a fastball, curve, and a cutter. He allowed four walks and got 13 ground-ball outs, striking out six.
Cleveland’s right-hander Gavin Williams was two outs away from history on Wednesday afternoon with a no-hit bid against the Mets – Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
Said Soto after the Mets 4-1 loss, “I wasn’t thinking about the no-hitter or anything. I was just working on my swing.”
And the Mets continued to fall, losing eight of their last nine games after the Guardians swept a three-game series. They are now 2-½ games behind the Phillies in the NL East.
Soto prevented a no-hitter, though the Mets head to Milwaukee trying to find answers against a team with the best record in baseball.
Soto’s ninth inning home run marked his 26th of the season as the Mets couldn’t overcome the four-run deficit – Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
“It falls on all of us,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “It falls on me as a manager. But we’re in this together. I’m not gonna point fingers here. I know, we know, we’ve got really good players. I’m going to point at myself, because I’m the manager and I’m responsible. I know how hard those guys are working but it starts with me.”
But it’s not just Soto who has been struggling, the home run though could be a spark because the swing was assertive and he has been hitting with contact but getting no results. It’s the big four of Soto, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, and Brandon Nimmo not getting results at the same time.
The Mets stand 63-52 on the year with 47 games to go, currently good for the third and final NL Wild Card spot (3.0 game lead + trailing Philadelphia for the NL East division lead by 2.5 games) – Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
The unit of a Mets offense has not been productive. And when a starting rotation fails to get past six innings that leads to Mendoza going to the bullpen. The Mets during this skid hardly resemble a team with postseason aspirations and with 47 games remaining, yes, there is time to get it right. But soon it has to get right or a promising season will quickly slip away.
Back to Willliams, who came two outs away from putting his name in the record books. After the home run, he got Alonso to fly out. He walked Nimmo and manager Stephen Vogt came to the mound after his right-hander threw 126 pitches.
“The velo was still there,” said Vogt in the postgame. “The stuff was crisp. I didn’t dare ask him how he was feeling. With a four-run lead, you have to let him go. You don’t know how many chances these pitchers are going to have to do it. He was going to get the whole way.”
Gavin Williams finished off his day with a complete game, allowing one run on Soto’s solo homer Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
Said Williams about the no-hit bid, “I got into the eighth and told myself I had to.” He added that he looked at the scoreboard and had a no-hit bid entering the seventh inning with hope he wasn’t leaving the mound.
“You’ve got to give him credit,” said Mendoza. “Obviously he was really good today using all his pitches. But we also know that we’re better than that. We just couldn’t make any adjustments. A lot of empty at-bats there.”
It was Martínez who provided Williams with a three-run lead. His two run homer in the third inning was the second off Mets’ left-handed starter David Peterson, who had only surrendered seven dingers prior to his start.
Angel Martínez broke the doors open of Wednesday’s series finale at Citi Field, hitting a three-run home run to boost the Guardians’ lead to 4-0 – Image Credit: Al Pereira/Latino Sports
As Williams was attempting his bid, so was a team that remained in the playoff hunt, 6-0 games behind the AL Central division leading Tigers, 1-½ games behind the Yankees for the third AL Wild Card.
“Three outs away—if the ball is hit to me I wanted it to be clean,” said Guardians’ second baseman Brayan Rocchio about the no-hit bid. “The fastball was popping. I didn’t say anything to him and he (Willaims) helped us. It’s awesome to be in the playoff hunt.”
A no-hid of course during the August stretch, though the Mets would rather they had come out of this one with a win in their playoff hunt.
“They will find ways to get out of this,” Mendoza said about his team “But obviously there’s a sense of urgency.”
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com – X: @Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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