Francisco Lindor was far from the only thing wrong with the Mets offense Friday night.
But in the aftermath of a loss to the Reds, after Lindor popped out to the second baseman in shallow right field — to cap an 0-for-5 night — as the potential tying run to extinguish a comeback attempt, he took plenty of the blame.
“I mean, I gotta swing at good pitches, No. 1,” Lindor said after the Mets’ 8-4 defeat. “I gotta start impacting the ball a little bit better. … Just not to the standards that the hitting coaches have here for all of us and not up to the standard that I have for myself, as well. Give credit to [Reds starter Nick] Lodolo, but I gotta be better, for sure.”
Despite entering the night with hits in nine of 12 July games, Lindor said his at-bats for the last month or month-and-a-half have been “up and down.”
He has hit .225 with a .706 OPS since June 1 after entering the month with .283 and .839 marks, respectively, that helped turn his season around after a brutal start — allowing him to secure his first All-Star Game appearance as a Met.
Against Lodolo, though, Lindor fouled out, grounded out to the pitcher and popped out to the first baseman.
Then, he grounded out in the eighth before his 207-foot fly out to shallow right field for the final out after the Mets collected two runs and loaded the bases.
“Just gotta get it going,” Lindor said of his recent at-bats.
Lindor took responsibility, but the Mets managed just two hits between the third and eighth innings against Lodolo, who struck out seven across seven innings, and Graham Ashcraft.
Juan Soto homered for the 24th time this season, but the top four hitters in the Mets lineup went just 1-for-16, with Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso each going 0-for-4.
A pressing issue to solve after the Midsummer Classic revolved around an overreliance on Soto, who continued his scorching tear in June and July by picking right up where he left off with the 412-foot blast in the first.
And for one night, that glaring problem surfaced again.
“I thought today we mishit a few balls,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Got under a lot of pitches there. Hit a few pop-ups there. Then we chase. I just feel like those middle innings [recently], we’re having a hard time putting a rally together. … We’re not passing the baton, if you want to call it that way.”
