MINNEAPOLIS — Of all the Mets’ anemic numbers offensively, their production with runners in scoring position might be the most odious.
So it hardly came as a surprise in Wednesday’s 10th inning against the Twins when the team failed to at bare minimum bring in the automatic runner from second base.
Some of it was bad luck: Jesse Winker hit a scorching grounder that was turned into a double play.
But Brandon Nimmo popped out to end the frame and the Twins needed only one batter in the bottom of the inning to win it: Ty France’s RBI single against Reed Garrett sent the Mets to a 4-3 loss in the series rubber game at Target Field.
Overall, the Mets are next to last in MLB with a .166 batting average with runners in scoring position this season.
“As long as we are creating traffic, [scoring] will come,” manager Carlos Mendoza said after the Mets lost consecutive games for the first time this season, completing a 3-3 road trip.
“I thought today against a team we know they are going to try to get ahead and make us chase, we were going to have to be aggressive. We went out there and swung at a few first pitches with runners in scoring position and just didn’t get the results.”
The Mets were only 1-for-6 with RISP until the eighth, when the top of the lineup rallied to produce three runs, tying the game.
Pete Alonso and Winker delivered consecutive RBI doubles and Luisangel Acuña’s single tied it 3-3.
But the Mets had multiple runners on base in the second, fourth and fifth (when they loaded the bases) and failed to score.
“Right now, we’re going through some downs with runners in scoring position,” Nimmo said. “But we’re getting guys on and so, the more opportunities we get, the more we’re going to cash in.”
In his major league debut, Justin Hagenman allowed one earned run over 3 ¹/₃ innings after Huascar Brazobán served as the opener. Hagenman allowed three hits and struck out four.
Winker was thrown out at the plate in the second inning attempting to score from second on Nimmo’s single to left.
Harrison Bader’s throw nailed Winker, who missed home plate on his first approach.
Francisco Lindor was hit by a pitch in the fifth to load the bases and with the infield drawn in, Juan Soto hit a grounder to Edouard Julien that the Twins second baseman turned into an inning-ending double play: Julien tagged Lindor and then beat Soto to first base.
José Buttó surrendered a single to Bader in the sixth that produced the game’s first run.
The run was charged to Hagenman, who surrendered a leadoff double to Willi Castro.
Byron Buxton delivered an RBI single later in the inning that put the Mets in a 2-0 hole.
The Mets were without a replay challenge in the sixth when Buttó beat Castro to first base with the ball on a ball Alonso stopped. Castro was ruled safe, giving the Twins a 3-0 lead.
Alonso and Winker stroked consecutive RBI doubles in the eighth to pull the Mets within 3-2, before Acuña’s single tied it.
But the Mets went hitless in their final two at-bats.
“I’m proud of the guys for fighting back,” Nimmo said. “We could have easily lost the game 3-0, with no fight.”
In the 10th inning, the scorching Alonso walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out, but Winker’s double play grounder ensued and Nimmo popped out.
“You just can’t sit back and let them get ahead 0-1 if they are going to attack you,” said Nimmo, who swung at a first-pitch cutter from Cole Sands. “I did chase the last one — that’s too bad, it went a little farther than I thought. But it’s going to happen.”
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