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Thanks to ex-Yankees closer Devin Williams, the New York Mets had lost 12 straight. Then ex-Yankees closer Luke Weaver saved them. The Mets signed the two former Yankee relievers as part of an offseason shakeup and in the wake of Edwin Diaz leaving for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Williams has an ERA over 9.00, a staggering mark for someone who’d been so good up until last season, and he melted down in two consecutive ninth innings. That pushed the losing streak to 12, but with the game on the line on Wednesday, the Mets turned to Weaver instead. He delivered in emphatic fashion.
Luke Weaves saves Mets from another disaster
Throughout the 12-game losing streak, and especially recently, the Mets had found the most improbable ways to lose games. The last two featured a walkoff loss after a single and a double, with a misplayed carom tying it in the ninth. Then, Devin Williams allowed five runners to reach without an out in the most recent failure.
So when the Mets got up 3-2 heading into the ninth inning, it certainly didn’t feel like a win was coming. In fact, most fans at Citi Field were probably wondering just how painful this loss was going to be. They’d grown accustomed to shocking losses.
Instead, Luke Weaver earned the save and saved the day. He might’ve saved the season, although one win in April after 12 straight losses probably won’t mean much. For the time being, though, it means everything to baseball’s most struggling team.
Weaver was dominant. He came on with two outs in the eighth and issued a walk to load the bases. It seemed like disaster was here, but he got Matt Wallner to pop out to the catcher to end it. The Mets took the lead, and aside from an infield single, Weaver cut down the Twins with three strikeouts to close it out.
Mets win but lose Francisco Lindor
The Mets just broke their losing streak and happened to get Juan Soto back on the same day. Those two things may well be connected, but three runs against a less-than-stellar cohort of Twins pitching isn’t exactly the offensive outburst that Soto could’ve helped lead. Still, a win is a win, and Soto was 1/3 with a walk.
But on the same day, bad news struck. Francisco Lindor left the game with a calf strain, and he could now miss some time. The duo of Lindor and Soto will once again have to wait. “We got relatively good news with Soto and (he) still (missed) three weeks,” New York manager Carlos Mendoza said. “So we’ll see what we’re dealing with.”
Calf strains can take two to six weeks, so Lindor is likely to miss the next handful of games no matter what the ultimate diagnosis is.
Adversity early on
Should the Mets survive this losing streak and go on to make the playoffs, which they expected to after bringing in a ton of talent in 2025 and 2026, then this blip might be considered a turning point. It might even benefit them. At least, pitcher Clay Holmes thinks it will be.
“I think this adversity can be good for us,” said Holmes. “So I just think realizing that and having this early, hopefully it brings us together and we’ll continue to fight. Every day is a new day.” He allowed just two runs over seven innings, a much-needed boost for New York.
Losing Soto was hard to deal with, and losing Lindor will be, too. But Carlos Mendoza isn’t interested in excuses. “It’s all part of it. We lost Soto and we had a hard time. Now we’re potentially dealing with losing another really good player and we got to figure it out. We got to find a way. But, again, we got to wait and see what we’re dealing with here,” he said.
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