HOUSTON — Francisco Lindor knew it was coming.
During his otherwise stellar tenure with the New York Mets, Lindor has struggled out of the gates. Seven of the eight worst months he’s had with New York have come in April and May — one reason he hasn’t made an All-Star team yet with the club — and last season he was hitting below .200 as late as May 21.
So when Lindor started this season hitless in Houston, he knew what everyone was thinking.
Can this year be any different?
“That’s a fantastic question,” he said after Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros. “I’m sure everyone is asking that, I’m sure everyone is trying to figure it out, and I’m right there with everyone. I don’t know. I guess I’ve got to put the ball in play and not hit it to the opposing players. Just continue to put my head down and grind and hope it’s not a monthlong thing.”
For the most part, there was no special emphasis on getting off to a better start for Lindor. The only change he made in spring was to progress more gradually toward being game ready.
“I came in (to camp) not peaking. Usually, I come in peaking,” he said. “(I was) thinking that I can get over the hump right when the season starts. I feel good coming out of spring training. Give credit to Houston. They pitched well.”
“The last week of spring training, he kind of flipped the switch a little bit and cranked it up,” co-hitting coach Jeremy Barnes said Friday. “I like where we’re at. It’s just a matter of leaning into that process and doing the things that have worked for us in the past. I want to give it a week or two weeks, but I’m happy where things are right now.”
Jose Siri: Electric factory ⚡ pic.twitter.com/MDzjguJ2sR
— New York Mets (@Mets) March 30, 2025
In Lindor’s defense, he wouldn’t be 0-for-11 right now if Jeremy Peña didn’t make an outstanding leaping stab of his line drive to start the season opener. (The expected batting average on that shot was .810.) Isaac Paredes made another nice play against him Friday.
Lindor thinks he’s in a much better spot in 2025 than he was a year ago.
“Last season, it was 30 degrees, and I felt like I was nowhere near the baseball,” he said. “I’m putting together better at-bats. I feel like every at-bat as the game goes on gets better. It’s just that no balls have gone through.”
Lindor is not alone in that Mets lineup. Through three games, New York has scored five runs on 11 hits. After Juan Soto doubled off the left-field wall in Saturday’s first inning, the Mets went hitless in their final 26 at-bats against Spencer Arrighetti and the Houston bullpen.
Manager Carlos Mendoza thought his hitters were caught in between against Arrighetti — they were behind his fastball and ahead of his secondary stuff, leading to a bunch of softer contact.
To this point, Soto, Brandon Nimmo and Luis Torrens are the only Mets with multiple hits.
That lack of offense spoiled a terrific series for New York’s pitching staff. The bats scored only five runs, but the arms gave up just six to a Houston lineup that still boasts some pop. In his Mets debut Saturday, Griffin Canning looked sharp, touching 96 with his fastball and leaning heavily on his slider to navigate the Astros lineup.
Canning allowed two runs on four hits in 5 2/3 innings. The costly pitch was his last one, when Yordan Alvarez yanked a two-strike slider into the gap in right-center to chase home the go-ahead run in the sixth.
“It felt like it was the right pitch,” said Canning, familiar with Alvarez from his time with the Los Angeles Angels. “I just didn’t execute it.”
New York’s bullpen tossed 2 1/3 scoreless innings, with Max Kranick entering a bases-loaded situation and retiring Alvarez and Christian Walker to get out of it. It was Kranick’s first big-league appearance in almost three years.
“We’ve been talking about trying to get him in a soft spot, then here he is with the bases loaded facing one of the best hitters in the league,” Mendoza said. “He attacked and executed pitches.”
“I knew my situations and I didn’t run that one through my head,” Kranick said after his first appearance with the team he grew up rooting for. “It gives you confidence.”
(Photo: Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)
