Mets-Nats to feature punchless offenses vs. generous pitching

No team in baseball has scored fewer runs than the New York Mets. And no team in the National League has allowed more runs than the Washington Nationals.

Something will have to give starting Tuesday, when the skidding Mets host Washington in the opener of a three-game series between the longtime National League East rivals.

Clay Holmes (2-2, 2.10 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Zack Littell (0-3, 7.56) in a battle of right-handers.

Both teams were off Monday after concluding a three-game series Sunday. The Mets continued slumping as they were swept in a doubleheader by the visiting Colorado Rockies, who won the opener 3-1 before recording a 3-0 victory in the nightcap. The Nationals recorded a series win by edging the host Chicago White Sox 2-1 in 10 innings.

The wins by the Rockies completed a three-game sweep of the Mets and dropped them to 2-15 since April 8, the worst 17-game stretch for the club since New York went 2-15 from Aug. 28 through the second game of a doubleheader on Sept. 13, 2004.

The Mets are 9-19 overall, tied with the division rival Philadelphia Phillies for MLB's worst record entering Monday. The 28-game start is tied for the worst in franchise history, while New York's 92 runs are the sixth fewest through 28 games and its fewest since the 1981 team that had 88 runs while starting 8-19-1.

Offense may remain hard to come by for the Mets, who will be without Francisco Lindor and Jorge Polanco -- their Opening Day leadoff and cleanup batters, respectively -- indefinitely. Lindor is out with a strained left calf, while Polanco is battling left Achilles and right wrist ailments.

"We've got to continue to go through it and find ways to get the guys going," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. "There's no other way to put it. I can sit here and tell you guys a lot, but at the end of the day, we've got to go out and do it."

The series against the White Sox indicated the Nationals might be in the process of figuring out their pitching issues. Although Washington has given up the second-most runs in the majors entering Monday (171, three behind the Houston Astros' 174), the Nationals surrendered just nine runs against the White Sox despite going to extra innings in each of the last two games.

That's the second fewest Washington has allowed in a three-game span this season, behind the eight runs it gave up while taking two of three from the Chicago Cubs and the Phillies from March 29-31.

Two of the White Sox's four runs over the last two games came in extra innings, when the automatic runner is placed at second.

In addition, the win and save Sunday were recorded by Richard Lovelady, who began the season with the Mets, and Paxton Schultz, who was recalled from Triple-A Rochester prior to the series finale.

"This team works, they get after it," Nationals manager Blake Butera said. "We've made some mistakes, no doubt, along the way. But the one thing I couldn't be more proud (of) is just the way these guys have worked every single day."

Holmes didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start last Wednesday, when he allowed two runs over seven innings in the Mets' 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins. Littell took the loss Wednesday after giving up eight runs (six earned) over six innings as the Nationals fell to the Atlanta Braves 8-6.

Holmes is 1-1 with a 1.76 ERA and one save in six career games (one start) against the Nationals. Littell is 0-1 with a 1.38 ERA in seven games (one start) against the Mets.

--Field Level Media