LOS ANGELES — From feeble to just plain awful, a downward spiral continued for the Mets lineup Monday night.
Somehow, they avoided getting no-hit, but it wasn’t easy. Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski had that kind of mastery over this sputtering bunch.
The Mets collected three measly singles and called it a night in their 4-0 loss before a sellout crowd of 52,838 at Dodger Stadium, extending their losing streak to six games. Shut out for a second straight game, the Mets have played 20 straight innings without scoring.
Wrobleski allowed only singles to Jorge Polanco and Francisco Alvarez over eight innings before Marcus Semien singled against Tanner Scott in the ninth. The Mets didn’t even place a runner in scoring position.
“These types of stretches are going to happen,” Semien said. “It’s tough when it happens early in the season. It’s tough when we’re not winning ballgames and the microscope is going to be right there on the offense.”
Only adding to the Mets’ angst: ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto, last year’s World Series hero, is the Dodgers’ scheduled starting pitcher on Tuesday.
This latest no-show by the lineup followed a homestand that finished with five straight losses, a stretch in which the Mets averaged 1.8 runs against the Diamondbacks and Athletics.
Among the distressing numbers entering play was the team’s .658 OPS, which ranked 23rd in MLB. The Mets were 23rd with a .305 on-base percentage and their .353 slugging percentage ranked No. 24.
Simply, that is not good enough for a lineup that was overhauled by president of baseball operations David Stearns this winter with an eye toward becoming more athletic and less dependent on home runs.
Juan Soto’s absence from the lineup has been felt, as he sits on the injured list with a strained right calf. It appeared this might not be the case a week ago: The Mets were returning from a successful weekend in San Francisco that included three straight victories (with excellent offensive production) with Soto sidelined.
“We’re trying to control the strike zone and swings at the right ones, but that is only half the battle,” Semien said. “Quality of contact is something we are all striving for, [too].”
In a third straight lackluster start, David Peterson allowed four earned runs on five hits and four walks with seven strikeouts over five innings. The left-hander has pitched to a 6.41 ERA in his four starts this season and has pitched into the sixth inning only once.
“This is probably the best we have seen him,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “He got some swings and misses, but the walks … I thought the [velocity] was better. But even when he got ahead there were three-ball counts and then he got behind, but the stuff itself was better.”
Peterson nearly buried himself in the first inning when he allowed an RBI single to Will Smith and walked Teoscar Hernández to load the bases with nobody out. But following a visit from pitching coach Justin Willard, the left-hander struck out Freddie Freeman, Andy Pages and Max Muncy in succession. Peterson’s trouble began when he drilled Shohei Ohtani and walked Kyle Tucker.
After a perfect second inning, Peterson returned to trouble in the third and this time didn’t escape: Pages launched a three-run homer that gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead. Tucker and Hernández each walked in the inning before Peterson hung a 2-0 curveball in the middle of the plate that Pages blasted over the left-field fence.
“I left the one curveball up, but I felt a lot better about my stuff,” Peterson said. “Obviously I would have liked to not give up the three-run homer and some of the free passes, but overall a step in the right direction.”
Polanco bounced a single through the first-base hole with one out in the fifth to give the Mets their first base runner against Wrobleski. But that breakthrough was negated when the ensuing batter, Alvarez, grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Peterson escaped fifth-inning trouble by striking out Muncy after Hernández doubled in the inning and Freeman singled him to third.
Craig Kimbrel allowed a single to Miguel Rojas in the sixth, but Rojas was thrown out by Alvarez attempting to steal second. Kimbrel finished with a scoreless inning.
Joey Gerber, in his Mets debut, escaped trouble in the seventh by striking out Pages after walking Smith and surrendering a two-out double to Freeman.
Polanco bounced a single through the first-base hole with one out in the fifth to give the Mets their first base runner against Wrobleski. But that breakthrough was negated when the ensuing batter, Alvarez, grounded into an inning-ending double play.
Peterson escaped fifth-inning trouble by striking out Muncy after Hernández doubled in the inning and Freeman singled him to third.
Craig Kimbrel allowed a single to Miguel Rojas in the sixth, but Rojas was thrown out by Alvarez attempting to steal second. Kimbrel finished with a scoreless inning.
Joey Gerber, in his Mets debut, escaped trouble in the seventh by striking out Pages after walking Smith and surrendering a two-out double to Freeman.
