The New York Mets might be witnessing the power of positive thinking when it comes to Juan Soto’s performance.
The Colorado Rockies can only wish that positivity would be that easy amid the worst start in modern baseball history.
The Mets will look to lock up a series win Saturday afternoon when they host the Rockies in the middle contest of a three-game set.
Kodai Senga (5-3, 1.46 ERA) is slated to start for New York against fellow right-hander Antonio Senzatela (1-9, 6.50).
Francisco Lindor hit two homers and the struggling Soto had an RBI double in the Mets’ 4-2 win on Friday.
Before the game, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza and general manager David Stearns each expressed confidence in Soto, who signed a 15-year, $765 million deal in December. Soto entered Friday hitless in his last 16 at-bats but finished 2-for-4 in that game.
“The results haven’t been there, but he’s going to get going,” Mendoza said. “Every day I sit here, you look at the numbers, he’s gong to get going here pretty soon.”
Soto flied out in his first at-bat Friday before he ended his drought with a well-struck double to score Lindor in the third inning to extend the Mets’ lead to 2-0. Soto’s sixth-inning single gave him two hits in a contest for just the second time in the last 17 games.
“Do I think he’s trying to do a little too much right now?” Stearns said. “Yeah, I think he’s probably trying to do a little bit too much right now. And that is natural for a player who cares about improving.”
Still, Soto is batting just .229 with a .755 OPS — nearly 200 points lower than his career OPS of .942. He also has just eight homers, none since May 9, after setting a career high with 41 last season for the New York Yankees.
“I know I’ve been struggling and I haven’t been there for them,” Soto said. “But I will be.”
Ryan McMahon laced an RBI double and Sam Hilliard hit a pinch-hit homer in his first big league at-bat of the season for the Rockies, who lost their sixth straight to fall to 9-48. Colorado is on pace to lose 136 games, which would shatter the modern-era record of 121 losses set last season by the Chicago White Sox.
The Rockies again were forced to take solace Friday in the narrowness of their loss. Colorado is 2-15 under interim manager Warren Schaeffer, but 10 of the defeats have been by three runs or less.
“It’s frustrating, but it’s not debilitating,” Schaeffer said. “We know that the tide is going to turn. We just know that. We keep playing like this, not beating ourselves, executing — we definitely did not beat ourselves today.”
Senga earned the win in his previous start last Sunday night, when he gave up one run over 5 1/3 innings in the Mets’ 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. He won his lone start against the Rockies on May 5, 2023, when he tossed six scoreless innings in a 1-0 victory.
Senzatela lost his sixth straight start Sunday after surrendering four runs over 4 1/3 innings as the Rockies dropped a 5-4 decision to the Yankees. He is 2-3 with a 2.70 ERA in six career games (five starts) against the Mets.
–Field Level Media
