PHOENIX — The New York Mets sat in complete silence Sunday afternoon. No music, no television, no conversation. The only sounds were chopsticks grabbing sushi, bags being packed, and footsteps shuffling out of the visiting clubhouse, down the hallway, and toward the team buses.
After spending 10 days in Southern California, the snow-capped mountains of Colorado, and the desert of Arizona, the Mets are finally heading home. They return to New York as the same miserable, underachieving team that left.
Their only shred of dignity in Phoenix was avoiding the embarrassment of being no-hit. The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated them 5-1, and the Mets managed just nine hits and three runs in regulation across the three games at Chase Field. Their three hits and two runs in the 10th inning during Friday’s 3-1 victory were the only thing preventing a complete weekend disaster.
Juan Soto went 0-for-10 in the series against Arizona. The Mets made Diamondbacks starters Eduardo Rodriguez, Merrill Kelly, and Ryne Nelson look like legends of the franchise. That trio, who entered the weekend with a 5.50 ERA, posted a 1.23 ERA in the series, allowing only nine hits and three runs over 22 innings. Rodriguez, an 11-year veteran with 243 career starts, pitched a career-high 8 1/3 innings on Sunday.
“We’re better than that,” said a visibly frustrated Mets manager Carlos Mendoza. “Especially the past couple of days. We needed to be better.”
The Mets’ offense struggled not only Sunday but throughout the entire nine-game trip, hitting just .209 and averaging 3.6 runs per game. Juan Soto and Bo Bichette, who are earning a combined $103.875 million this year, summed up the Mets’ problems, going 0-for-20 in Arizona.
“I mean, there’s no issues right here,” Soto said. “We’re all professionals. We can handle this stuff. But definitely, we’re struggling a little bit right now. But I think it’s going to pass.”