Bichette (foot) remains on bench on Thursday

He missed last night’s game due to a foot contusion suffered against the Brewers on Wednesday. It evidently wasn’t all that serious. Bichette will take his hacks against RHP Hunter Brown.

Bichette’s early departure appears to be precautionary in nature since the Mets were trailing by a touchdown at the time. He managed to stay in the contest initially after fouling a ball off the inside of his left foot in the third inning. He finished 0-for-1 with a walk.

Bichette’s home run was his 14th of the season. He hit a solo shot off Luis Castillo in the third inning. Bichette’s slugging percentage is down more than 50 points since last year. His home run Saturday was his fourth in August after he failed to hit a big fly in July. Bichette is hitting .268 with a .712 OPS and 66 RBI.

It has nothing to do with Christopher Morel’s addition, since Morel isn’t starting, either. The Mets are just going with the vets today, with Jorge Polanco, Marcus Semien and Luis Robert are starting. Baty had a big grand slam against the Braves a week ago, but he’s still just 4-for-29 this month. He’s at .175/.230/.404 in 61 plate appearances since the break.

It’s the second time in the last four games that Semien has found himself left out of the starting lineup, which is at least something to monitor going forward. Brett Baty will cover second base in his absence and will bat seventh against Nationals’ right-hander Jake Irvin.

Bichette socked his 12th home run of the season as the Mets’ comeback attempt in the ninth inning fell short. While he’s done well to bring his batting average back to an acceptable level over the last few months – it’s at .262 right now – next to no power has come with it. He has just eight extra-base hits since July 1st in what’s become a lost season.

Semien takes a seat with Brett Baty getting the nod at the keystone in this one. The 35-year-old veteran second baseman has homered five times in 22 games since last month’s All-Star break, but he’s batting just .203 (15-for-74) during that span.

Baty had previously hit two of his three career triples with the bases loaded, but zero of his 40 homers. He’s still at a very disappointing .215/.286/.330 in 379 plate appearances for the year. His emergence in 2025 suggested that he was on his way to becoming a fine platoon starter, but he needs to get it together down the stretch here if he expects to be a significant part of the Mets’ plans for 2027.

Bichette had a monstrous game as the Mets erupted for 15 hits in Pittsburgh. The highlight was a bases-clearing three-run double in the fourth. Bichette hasn’t had the season he or Mets fans hoped for when he signed last offseason, and there’s been no sign of a turnaround since the All-Star break. He rode a .380 BABIP to a red-hot June but has posted a below-average wRC+ in every other month.

No surprise after Benge suffered a left wrist injury on a collision with the left-field wall while making a sliding catch during Friday’s contest. The positive news for the Mets, and fantasy managers, is that initial X-rays came back negative for any fractures, and the Mets are currently calling it a bone bruise. It sounds like he could be back by the middle of next week. It’ll be fellow rookie A.J. Ewing taking over in left field with Luis Robert Jr. patrolling center field and Brett Baty in the opposite corner.