These Mets go to 11: Michael Conforto amps up the losing streak

Cubs 2 Mets 1 in 10 innings (Wrigley Field, Chicago, IL)

Mets record: 7-15

Mets streak: Lost 11

WP -Caleb Thielbar (2-2)

LP - Craig Kimbrel (0-1)

Seat on the Korner: Michael Conforto

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

Because of course, right? Because as soon as you saw Michael Conforto on deck in the 9th inning ... as soon as you heard Gary talk about Conforto's career as a Met and where his travels took him afterwards ... and as soon as you juxtaposed that with the Mets' 10 game losing streak, you knew it was happening. You knew that Conforto was getting the hit that was going to either tie or win the game for the Cubs. That's exactly what happened, because you knew it would happen.

Need to Know

• Tobias Myers made the start in place of David Peterson, but only as the opener while Peterson was the bulk guy. Myers pitched two scoreless innings giving up a hit and a walk with two strikeouts, while Peterson pitched 3 and 2/3's scoreless innings while giving up three hits and striking out one.

• Meanwhile, the Mets were only able to muster three hits in 5 and 2/3's innings off Cubs starter Javier Assad, and only three hits against the Cubs' bullpen.

• Francisco Alvarez's pinch-hit strikeout in the 8th put him at 0-for-28 to start his career as a pinch hitter.

• Nico Hoerner's sac fly RBI in the 10th was his 4th career walk off RBI.

• The Mets' 11th straight loss was their longest losing streak since 2004.

Turning Point

Michael Conforto entered the game with a .204 career average as a pinch hitter.

They say the devil always finds you when you're at your most vulnerable. Well, the devil wasn't available so Conforto pinch hit for him.

Three Keys

We'll Start With The Good

There is good news (believe it or not), and most of it revolves around David Peterson. The decision to start with Tobias Myers as an opener could have unlocked something in David Peterson as the bulk guy, but something worked with him whether it was that, or whether it was Peterson throwing his fastball more often. But it's something to build on as the Mets are looking to make tweaks and get a guy like Christian Scott into the rotation with multiple guys struggling.

And let's give Huascar Brazoban some credit for getting what would have been a key out on a winning team when he struck out Seiya Suzuki with the bases loaded.

An MJ in Chicago? What Could Go Wrong?

MJ Melendez has a .357 average and a 1.157 OPS as a Met, and probably should have been up with the team in some capacity all season. He was responsible for the only run of the game.

But the question is why MJ Melendez is the one that's tasked to save this team? There are plenty of players who are capable of it. Instead, they had 6 hits in 10 innings, and couldn't even drive in the ghost runner in the 10th. That leads me to the next key ...

You Can't Spell Assad Without Sad

Javier Assad came into this game with an ERA of 8.10 and a WHIP of 1.600. Jacob Webb entered with an ERA of 5.87 and a WHIP of 2.217. Riley Martin is a 28-year-old rookie. Carbin Martin had a career ERA of 6.54, a career WHIP of 1.722 and was making his 2026 debut.

Off of those four pitchers, the Mets had five hits in nine innings.

There have been countless instances just this decade where you've heard a description of a pitcher going against the Mets such as "entered the game with an ERA of 8" or "coming off a shattered skeleton" or "hadn't won a game since World War I" where the story ends with "one run in six innings", or "seven scoreless innings". It's too much now. When you change your entire roster and change the entire coaching staff, it could either go really well or go really wrong. And this has gone really, really wrong thus far.

Could it go right when Juan Soto comes back this week? Or when their travel schedule calms down after multiple trips to the west coast in the first six weeks of the season? Quite possibly. But an 11 game losing streak is tough to come back from. It doesn't happen very often. If that's the case, there's going to be more bloodshed on the roster, in the coaching staff, or in the front office. We may not have to wait into the end of the season for that eo happen, either.