Perhaps the addition of J.D. Martinez will prove to be a game-changer for the Mets over the course of a long season.
He couldn’t change his first game, though.
Martinez made a solid debut and drilled his first few hits with his new team, but he could not flip a switch for a Mets offense that was mostly turned off in a 4-2 loss to open a series with the Cardinals in front of 24,159 in Citi Field on Friday night.
The Mets (13-12) dropped the first game of a seven-game homestand mostly because Jose Butto missed a few times, and the Mets’ offense continually missed in important moments.
Martinez, who didn’t sign until deep into the spring and had to build up his body and his swing, looked ready to help but should not be seen as an immediate savior, partly because he doesn’t pitch.
Butto was up and down — actually, first down then up — while allowing four runs on four hits and three walks in 5 ²/₃ innings.
The 26-year-old dug the Mets in an early hole in the second inning.
After a hit-by-pitch and a walk, Alec Burleson saw a down-the-middle changeup and launched a bomb to right-center to quickly put the Cardinals up, 3-0.
An inning later, it was a middle-middle sinker that Willson Contreras demolished an estimated 445 feet off the second deck in left field — rarely reached territory.
But Butto retired the next 11 hitters he saw, continually had Cardinals hitters off-balance and extended an outing that could have been over early.
He kept the Mets in the game, but the offense could not make it matter.
The Mets only scored in the fifth (on a home run from Tomas Nido in his first game in Queens in nearly 11 months) and in the sixth (when Martinez’s double drove in Francisco Lindor).
Otherwise, the Mets, who outhit the Cardinals, 8-5, had their chances and wasted most of those chances.
Carlos Mendoza’s offense went 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position and left five on base.
A sampling of the frustration against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas, who entered with a 6.49 ERA:
- A leadoff double from Brandon Nimmo followed by an infield single from Starling Marte was wasted in the first inning. Lindor fouled out before Pete Alonso grounded into a double play.
- Martinez reached second base in the second, but Harrison Bader and Brett Baty were retired.
- Nido doubled in the third, moved to third on a Nimmo flyout, then watched Marte strike out and Lindor ground out.
The Mets chased Mikolas in the sixth but managed just one hit against three Cardinals relievers.
