For those wondering just how bad the Mets would look after selling some of its most valuable assets at the trade deadline on Tuesday, the wait to find out wasn’t a long one.
The Mets (50-58) were shut down by the Kansas City Royals in a 9-2 loss on Thursday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium to complete an embarrassing sweep. Royals starting pitcher Brady Singer spun eight shutout innings, allowing just three runs with four strikeouts and zero walks while the hosts ran away with it.
The Mets received a meaningless consolation prize with two outs in the top of the ninth inning when Francisco Lindor hit his 22nd home run of the season, a two-run shot, off reliever Jonathan Heasley.
Of the four Mets’ hits on the afternoon, two came from Pete Alonso against Singer, who entered Thursday’s matinee with a 6-8 record and a 5.46 ERA. Yet he had no problem mowing down a Mets lineup that had been put together with duct tape after the trade deadline. With Mark Canha and Tommy Pham traded away and Brandon Nimmo sidelined, DJ Stewart, batting second and playing right field, got a start alongside minor leaguers Rafael Ortega in center field and Jonathan Arauz at second base.
Mets starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco’s nightmare season continued against the second-worst team in baseball as he was tagged for six runs on eight hits with one walk and zero strikeouts in six-plus innings. His 2023 season ERA swelled to 6.60.
It was a fateful seventh inning that did him in and ultimately made the series finale an embarrassing rout. After allowing three runs in the first six innings via a Salvador Perez first-inning double, and a third inning in which he yielded a sacrifice fly and a Bobby Witt solo home run, the veteran righty was touched up for three runs in the seventh inning through a Drew Waters three-run shot that just snuck inside the right-field foul pole.
After putting two runs across in the eighth inning against reliever John Walker — who balked in the winning run in Tuesday night’s loss — Mets manager Buck Showalter called in Danny Mendick to get the final two outs of the frame. While he gave up a run-scoring single to Witt, he coaxed a pair of flyouts to get out of it.
