When pressure and injuries (first Juan Soto and then Clay Holmes) are mounting and hits are not, there is a tendency for players to try to do too much.
Maybe that is why the at-bats for the Mets seemed to grow progressively worse as the booing from the crowd grew progressively louder.
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Maybe that is the explanation for Francisco Lindor short-circuiting a potential rally, wandering too far off third base and getting gunned down from across the diamond.
The offense was silent, the jeers loud and a rare opportunity for base running poor in what became a 4-0, series-opening loss to the A’s in front of 36,349 unhappy customers at Citi Field on Friday.
Luis Robert Jr. homered in Thursday’s first inning. Since that blast, the Mets have gone 17 consecutive innings without a run.
It is difficult to win when you cannot score, and the Mets (7-7) have dropped three straight.
Adding to the insulting offense was the Holmes injury, the first potential setback for a rotation that had enjoyed perfect health all spring and the first two weeks of the season.
Holmes exited in the sixth inning with what the club called left hamstring tightness, leaving with a trainer after his 81st pitch having allowed one run in 5 ⅓ strong innings. Holmes did not betray a limp or discomfort exiting the field, but the severity of the injury was not immediately clear.
Holmes has been remarkably durable in his career and has not been placed on the injured list since a lower back issue in August 2022.
Tobias Myers entered and pitched well until he let up three runs in the top of the ninth, but pitching was not the Mets’ issue Friday.
They did not get a hit against the A’s — who had two-hit the Yankees over the final 17 innings of a series in The Bronx that ended Thursday — until Jared Young laid down a gorgeous bunt that somehow stayed fair with one out in the fourth.
That would be the only knock against former Mets prospect JT Ginn (four innings, one hit, one walk), but they threatened a rally against righty Jack Perkins in the sixth. The slumping Lindor singled and went to third on a single from Bo Bichette.
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There was life injected into Queens, and instantly it was gone. Young grounded to Nick Kurtz, and Lindor likely assumed the first baseman would try for a double play.
But Kurtz eyed Lindor, who had gone too far off third base, hesitated a moment and then threw a strike across the diamond to nail a scrambling-back Lindor.
Three pitches later, Robert grounded into a double play, which jump-started rounds of boos that became the soundtrack for the late innings.
