Mets get needed off day to reset as rain forces Sunday doubleheader vs. Rockies

“I think we’ve seen flashes from Kodai. We haven’t seen the consistency, and so we’re banking on the flashes and continuing to get into the rhythm of the season,” Stearns said. “But we need some more consistency. There’s no question, we need some more consistency.”

Consistency is tough for the Mets in all aspects of the game right now. They’ve made sloppy mistakes on the basepaths and fundamental mistakes on defense. Still, Stearns is happy with the “run prevention,” despite the Mets’ run differential of -25.

Nolan McLean is also set to start in one of those two Sunday games. The right-handed rookie has been fantastic this season, pitching to a 2.67 ERA in five starts, but the Mets haven’t been able to get him any run support. Offensive production has been slow to start the season, especially with the cold weather, and with Soto out of the lineup, then Lindor. The Mets have been having an issue with ground balls. Most of their hard hits have been directly into the ground, which was the case Friday night in a loss to Colorado.

Michael Lorenzen pitched seven innings for the Rockies, holding the Mets to one run. A pitcher who tends to get outs on the ground to begin with, the Mets are susceptible to being pitched in a certain way to induce groundouts right now.

An aggressive approach at the plate has also led to hitters expanding the strike zone and swinging at pitches outside of it. There have been signs to indicate the hitters are coming out of this phase, but the Mets have to do so before they adopt too many bad habits at the plate.

“We do have some players who are going to expand the zone, and they have over the course of the year, and over the course of their careers,” Stearns said. “Some of them have been very successful. Us focusing too much on that with specific players may not have the desired result. Some players are pretty good being aggressive, and I think we have a couple of those players.”

Gates will open Sunday at 12:10 p.m., and parking lots at 11:40 a.m. The second game will begin 30-45 minutes after the first. Tickets for Saturday will not be valid for the makeup doubleheader, but fans who already purchased tickets will receive a digital voucher loaded into their My Mets Tickets account, and will be accessible Sunday morning. Vouchers can be exchanged for a ticket comparable in price and location to select regular season home games, including Sunday’s doubleheader.