The Mets scored just three runs in 16 innings during Friday's doubleheader against the Phillies, but were still able to come out with a split thanks to a walk-off single by Dominic Smith in extra innings of game one.
The twin bill was the continuation of the team's offensive struggles of late, but if you ask Smith, who has been struggling at the plate himself this season, it's hard to pick apart a team's deficiencies when you're at the top.
"It's never concerning when you're in first place," Smith said when asked if he was concerned with the team's hitting struggles. "We're finding ways to get the job done. Obviously we're not gonna win every game. If we did, we'd be 162-0, which is impossible."
New York grinded out a win in game one and was in position to sweep the doubleheader, but could only push across one run with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh, leading to extras again, this time falling short in the eighth. It marked the eighth time in their last nine games that the Mets had scored less than five runs.
"You can't discredit Aaron Nola, the way he pitched, you can't discredit how Matt Moore came out and pitched," Smith said. "It's a hard game with some elite pitchers out there. But it's a part of it, we've got another one [Saturday] and we'll be ready."
As Smith said, the Mets are in first place with a four-game lead over the surging Nationals, who have won eight of 10, and fortunately for New York, the NL East hasn't looked like the gauntlet that many thought it would be, as the Mets are currently the only team in the division over .500. But manager Luis Rojas knows the offense needs to pick it up if his team it to maintain a comfortable division lead through the summer.
"The offense has been a little down lately, but having [Jeff] McNeil and [Michael] Conforto back in the lineup, I know that's gonna start sequencing more good at-bats and we're gonna be able to score more runs," Rojas said. "But it's definitely going to be a battle moving forward."
The Mets have managed just 2.8 runs per game over their last 17 contests, but have an identical four-game lead in the division now as they did when that stretch first started. That likely wouldn't hold up over a full season if the run production remained that low, but it's getting the job done for now, so Smith won't let it keep him up at night.
"When you're in first place, you can't be too concerned," Smith said. "Just gotta grind one game out at a time and try to win them all."
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
