Mets swept by Brewers, start 0-3 for first time since 2014
Pete Alonso of the Mets during the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Citi Field on Sunday, March 31, 2024. Credit: Errol Anderson
Swept by the Brewers to open the season, the Mets face a challenge that is obvious, if not exactly easy: Don’t let this spiral.
Their weird weekend concluded Sunday with another loss to Milwaukee, 4-1; the loss of their manager, Carlos Mendoza, for the game because he was suspended by MLB, and the potential loss of their starting pitcher, Tylor Megill, who went for an MRI on his right shoulder.
They are 0-3 for the first time since 2014.
“What you can’t do is just pout and get down,” Brandon Nimmo said. “You have to grind and work through it and get to the other side.”
Francisco Lindor said: “It doesn’t feel good at all. It was a tough weekend for sure. You want to open up the season winning, and right now we’re not in that column. Hopefully quick, we better get in that column.”
The Mets lost three in a row to the Brewers in the first week of last season, too, and never really recovered. It proved to be the first red flag in a season full of them.
What needs to be fixed?
“Nothing,” bench coach John Gibbons said. “We just got beat. We’ve got a good ballclub. We like our ballclub. If we’re going to take these three games and worry about them, we’re better than that. We’ll just move on to tomorrow.”
Gibbons was the Mets’ de facto manager for the day as Mendoza served his suspension, which was announced by the league less than two hours before first pitch.
MLB also suspended reliever Yohan Ramirez for three games, deeming his pitch behind Rhys Hoskins on Saturday intentional — perceived blowback for Hoskins’ late slide into second base Friday. Holding the manager accountable for his players’ actions is the league’s standard operating procedure.
The Mets stranded eight runners on base, with Omar Narvaez — the backup catcher playing in his first game — accounting for half of them.
He was central in an early but important moment: With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth and the Mets trailing 2-1, Narvaez flied out to the warning track in rightfield on Colin Rea’s 30th pitch of the inning.
“I hit it too high,” Narvaez said. “I hit it hard [99 mph], but I can’t control it.”
Megill reported that his shoulder was “tender” after the fourth inning, according to Gibbons, so the Mets pulled him and sent him for tests.
In 2022, Megill missed three months because of a shoulder strain. Gibbons said he didn’t know if Megill had experienced similar issues recently.
“Something was out of the norm,” Gibbons said.
Narvaez said: “I didn’t see any face-making or body language on the mound. I actually thought his last inning was the best inning.”
That was true: Megill’s nine-pitch top of the fourth was his only perfect inning of the day.
His season debut looked like so many of his outings last year — high pitch count, poor control of the strike zone, not necessarily a ton of actual damage.
He held Milwaukee to two runs (one earned) in four innings but also walked three batters and hit another with a pitch.
The Brewers totaled four bases on three hits off Megill. They added seven from walks, steals and HBPs.
The Mets managed a lone run in five innings against Rea, who struck out two and walked two — Francisco Alvarez and Tyrone Taylor, both in the fourth to set up that bases-loaded chance for Narvaez. Taylor’s came at the end of a 12-pitch plate appearance.
After Narvaez’s inning-ending long fly ball, the Mets had one more plate appearance with a runner in scoring position.
“It’s tough to win games if your No. 2 guy doesn’t get on base,” Lindor said, speaking of himself after he reached twice in 13 tries in the series.
Afterward, the Mets took Nimmo’s advice: They didn’t pout. Some worked out and some spent time with their families who were in town for the season-opening excitement. Taking advantage of a newly installed basketball hoop in the clubhouse, Lindor shot hoops with a clubhouse attendant.
“There was going to be bad times during this year,” Nimmo said. “You’re going to have to deal with it at some point. Might as well be right at the beginning.’’
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
