As Carlos Mendoza noted prior to Sunday’s game against the A’s, these early-season games count just as much as the ones later in the year, when the Mets hope to be in the playoff mix.
That’s bad news these days, as the Mets continue to flail.
They’ve lost five in a row after dropping another to the A’s, 1-0, at Citi Field, as Sacramento finished off the sweep.
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And that wasn’t the only bad part of the day for the Mets, as they ended it by heading to Los Angeles, where they’ll face the two-time defending World Series champions for the next three games.
At least they won’t get booed for a while, as they were at the end of Sunday’s snoozefest, the second time in three games they were blanked.
This latest defeat came with Freddy Peralta on the mound and the right-hander was hardly at fault this time around.
Peralta held the A’s to one run over six innings, allowing just a solo homer to Nick Kurtz in the third inning.
Again, the culprit was the nonexistent Mets offense, which has been dormant for nearly the entire losing streak.
Right-hander Aaron Civale retired 13 straight following Jared Young’s two-out single in the first.
After Peralta got out of a jam in the second by striking out Denzel Clarke, the Mets fell behind in the third when Peralta allowed a one-out solo shot to Nick Kurtz on an 0-2 curveball.
Peralta got into trouble again an inning later, with a one-out walk to Max Muncy and a double to right by former Met Jeff McNeil.
The right-hander responded by whiffing Darell Hernaiz for the second out before Carson Benge robbed Denzel Clarke of a two-run single with a great diving catch of a fly ball to shallow center.
After the Mets wasted a scoring chance in the first, when Bo Bichette struck out with a pair of runners on, they didn’t have another baserunner until Luis Torrens singled to open the sixth.
With one out, Francisco Lindor picked up his second hit of the day.
But Jorge Polanco grounded into a force and with runners on the corners against lefty Hogan Harris, pinch-hitter Mark Vientos flied to right.
The A’s didn’t get a hit after the fourth, as Peralta and Sean Manaea — again pitching in long-relief — combined to not allow a baserunner after the fifth inning.
