Frankie Montas falls back down to earth in second start with Mets

Hoping to build off his impressive season debut for the New York Mets less than a week ago against the Atlanta Braves, Frankie Montas was anything but impressive in his second start of the season against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates bombarded Montas out of the gate on Sunday with a five-run first inning, which also saw the righty give up two home runs. This resulted in the Mets getting swept by Pittsburgh over the weekend, losing the finale, 12-1.

Despite striking out five batters to a tune of just one walk, the 29-year-old only went four innings on the afternoon. He allowed six earned runs on seven hits and failed to give the Mets any length for an already taxed bullpen.

The final line for Frankie Montas today in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/Yqao1YqyvN
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) June 29, 2025

Montas met with reporters following Sunday's game. Despite saying he was throwing "pretty good pitches," the righty hurler also admitted that he was "missing his spots in a little bit."

Frankie Montas says he was "missing his spots a little bit" in the first inning

He feels that he threw "pretty good pitches" after the rough first pic.twitter.com/a3w4akkUFs
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 29, 2025

Manager Carlos Mendoza was also blunt when he was asked about what went wrong for Montas in his second start, after blanking the Braves over five innings during his previous outing.

"Couldn't put hitters away," Mendoza said. "Was having a hard time finishing hitters, two guys get on, gets to two outs and gets ahead of [Ke'Bryan] Hayes, he's not able to finish that at-bat. He puts the ball in play and then the pitch to [Oneil] Cruz, I think it's more like pitch selection there, that's not a good pitch, that's a pitch that he hammers. I think it was just obviously not being able to finish hitters."

"Couldn't put hitters away"

Carlos Mendoza on Frankie Montas' start today: pic.twitter.com/YmtCz0vyIr
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 29, 2025

Starting pitching woes have been a common theme for the Mets during this brutal stretch in which they dropped 13 out of their last 16 games. While injuries to Kodai Senga (hamstring strain), Sean Manaea (right oblique strain), Tylor Megill (right elbow strain), and most recently Griffin Canning (ruptured left Achilles) have not helped, the Amazins' pitching depth, or lack thereof, has clearly been put to the test as of late.

With Canning out for the rest of the season and with no timetable on when Manaea, Senga, or Megill will make their return to the rotation, New York is quickly running out of options after Montas appeared to pitch like the starter that had a 12.05 ERA over his six rehab starts.

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