Mets' offense fails again, Clay Holmes leaves with hamstring tightness in shutout loss to A's

David Stearns assessed the problem. He then expressed belief.

Sitting at the dais inside the interview room Friday afternoon for his regular State of the Mets address with reporters, the president of baseball operations acknowledged that the team hasn’t been the type of offensive juggernaut that those in positions of responsibility had envisioned when the roster was constructed.

In the next breath, though, he stressed that 13 games into a 162-game marathon is a small sample size.

“We’re going to get going. We’re going to score runs,” Stearns said. “Each April I’ve been here has been pretty similar: We don’t score as many runs as we’d like and then the weather warms up and balls start flying out of the ballpark a little bit.”

A few hours later, the Mets lived up to part of his appraisal, just not in the way he — or they — wanted. They dropped a series-opening 4-0 decision to the A’s in front of 36,349 at Citi Field.

The loss was the third straight for the Mets (7-7), who have scored 56 runs this season — 30 in three games and 26 in the other 11.  They have scored three runs in the last three games.

The Mets managed six hits off J.T. Ginn and four relievers. Ginn struck out four, walked one and surrendered only Jared Young’s bunt single in the bottom of the fourth.

The Mets’ best chance to break through came in the sixth when Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette led off with back-to-back singles that put runners at the corners. Young hit a soft chopper to first baseman Nick Kurtz, whose strong throw to Max Muncy got Lindor at third for the first out. Luis Robert Jr. then hit into a 6-4-3 double play.

Starter Clay Holmes, who took the loss, went 5 1⁄3 innings before leaving with left hamstring tightness. He struck out three and allowed five hits and three walks.

“It felt a little tight,” he said. “There was just kind of a weird feeling.”

The game marked Jeff McNeil’s return to Citi Field after being traded to the A’s in December for righthander Yordan Rodriguez, who was 17 at the time.

McNeil said the trade caught him by surprise because Stearns called him after the Brandon Nimmo-Marcus Semien trade and outlined a plan in which he would play the outfield.

“I was actually sitting at home when he traded Nimmo,” McNeil said. “He did give me a call right after that, kind of let me know what was going on. He actually thought I was going to be part of the team. He said he had some [thoughts] for me playing outfield, especially with Semien coming in. Never really gave me any heads up on the trade block or anything like that.

“I actually thought there was a good possibility I was going to come back and play outfield for the Mets. So it was a little bit of a surprise when the trade did happen.”

McNeil, who batted sixth and played second base, finished 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the ninth. After Jacob Wilson led off with a single and advanced to second when rookie leftfielder Carson Benge misplayed the ball, McNeil singled off Tobias Myers to drive in the run.

Denzel Clarke’s two-run single extended the lead to 4-0.

McNeil received ovations when he was introduced in the starting lineup and before he came to bat in the second inning. The Mets aired tribute videos for him and Luis Severino before the game.

Soto ‘progressing’

Stearns said Juan Soto is “progressing as we expect” from a strained right calf, but he indicated that the Mets do not have a firm timetable as to when the $765 million outfielder can begin running on the field.

Soto suffered the injury in the first inning of the Mets’ 10-3 win over the Giants on April 3, and the team put him on the 10-day injured list Monday.

“He’s moving around indoors,” Stearns said. “The key at this point is let’s make sure he doesn’t get decommissioned and let’s keep him going [so] that when the calf’s fully good, we don’t have this lengthy ramp-up.

“I don’t have a specific on this day he’s going to start running, on this day he’s going to hit on the field. We don’t have that yet, but we’re optimistic that this is not going to be a particularly long-term absence right now.”

Soto is not the only Mets position player whose return to the lineup is uncertain. Manager Carlos Mendoza said infielder Jorge Polanco is dealing with bursitis in an Achilles tendon. Polanco had an MRI on Thursday that revealed the condition

and is being treated.

“He feels a lot better . . . It should heal with the medication,” Mendoza said. “We have to make sure he’s not putting too much pressure [on it]. Hitting is fine, running. It’s just the position, when he has to get down, fielding, stretching at first base, he puts pressure there that’s going to irritate it.”