NEW YORK -- Juan Soto saved the Mets from being on the wrong end of history. But his silver lining couldn't outshine the dark cloud hanging over the Mets' lineup.
New York was on the verge of being no-hit by the Guardians' Gavin Williams on Wednesday when Soto smacked a home run off the facing of the Home Run Apple with one out in the ninth inning.
Soto's big swing might have broken up the no-hitter, but the Mets still fell to Cleveland, 4-1, in the series finale at Citi Field. Their skid continued, and their offense continued to sputter.
"You've got to give him credit. Obviously he was really good today, using all of his pitches," manager Carlos Mendoza said. "But we also know that we're better than that. [The hitters] know they're better than that."
The Mets went hitless for a span of 13 innings against the Guardians between the fourth inning of Tuesday's game and the ninth inning of Wednesday's game. They were swept by Cleveland, have now lost eight of their last nine games and sit 2 1/2 games back of the Phillies in the National League East.
"It falls on all of us. It falls on me as a manager," Mendoza said. "But we're in this together. I'm not gonna point fingers here. I know -- we know -- we've got really good players. If I'm going to [point fingers], I'm going to point at myself, because I'm the manager and I'm responsible. I know how hard those guys are working, but it starts with me."
A lineup led by Soto, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo should not, on paper, be struggling like this. But the Mets are.
"They're human. But they've also been through it," Mendoza said. "We've got a lot of experience in that room. We've got guys that have been through some stretches like this before, and they find a way to get out of it. And they will. They will find ways to get out of this. But obviously there's a sense of urgency."
Still, it's been hard for even a hitting savant like Soto to pinpoint why this Mets lineup hasn't found the consistency it's needed.
"I really don't know," Soto said. "I really don't know what's going on. But definitely we have the talent, and the guys who are capable of doing damage, here. So I think one day it's gonna turn around."
Soto, though he's having an excellent season by a normal hitter's standards -- he has 26 home runs and an .865 OPS -- has still not been mashing at peak Juan Soto levels, especially lately. Since the All-Star break, he's batting .177 in 17 games.
Maybe Wednesday's home run, which stopped the Mets from being no-hit for the first time since Max Scherzer got them on Oct. 3, 2015, will be Soto's spark.
"I wasn't thinking about the no-hitter or anything," Soto said. "I was just working on my swing."
Mendoza said he thinks the root of the Mets' slump is that the team, as a whole, has been unable to adjust to how opposing pitchers are attacking them over the course of a game.
"I feel like not only today, but the past few weeks or so, we haven't been able to do that," Mendoza said. "And good hitting teams are able to make those adjustments. They're able to say, 'All right, that's how they're attacking us. We've got to do this. We've got to flip the script here.' That's what I think is the next step for us -- to be able to recognize that."
But why haven't the Mets been able to successfully make the adjustments they need to?
"Those are the conversations that we continue to have right now," Mendoza said. "Our coaches are working really hard. They continue to have those discussions with the players. But at the end of the day, we've got to go out and do it."
Soto knows his manager is right. But the Mets need to figure things out fast if they're going to live up to their World Series aspirations.
"I agree with him. We have to be better," Soto said.
"Nobody says it's going to be easy to go all the way. It's a challenge. We've just got to go out there and take it from them. Nobody's going to bring the trophy over here and give it to us. We've got to go out there and take it."