(SportsNetwork.com) - Bartolo Colon hopes for some run support on Tuesday when the New York Mets start a brief two-game set with the Baltimore Orioles at Citi Field.
New York has followed up its impressive 10-game winning streak and 13-3 start with just three wins in its last 10 games and has seen its offense go in the tank, as the Mets have produced just 28 runs in that span and are hitting a mere .217.
"We haven't been able to get the big hit," Mets outfielder Michael Cuddyer said. "When we were winning games last week, we were getting the big hit."
The Mets may have hit rock bottom from an offensive standpoint this weekend, as they dropped three of four games to the Washington Nationals and were shutout in the final two contests, while the pitching staff allowed just a run in each of those games.
"We ran into two guys the last two days that pitched really really well," Cuddyer added. "They kept the ball off the barrel and we didn't help ourselves."
Colon hopes that changes on Tuesday, as he tries to bounce back from his first loss of the season. The veteran right-hander had won his first four starts before falling in Miami on Wednesday. He gave up four runs and nine hits over 6 2/3 innings of that one and saw his ERA rise to 3.31.
He also didn't walk a batter four the fourth straight start.
"For me, I think I did a pretty good job," Colon said through an interpreter. "But more than anything, the team responded well. It was too bad that I couldn't pick them up when I needed to."
Colon has faced the Orioles 27 times (26 starts) and is 12-8 against them with a 3.25 ERA.
Baltimore, meanwhile, took two of three at "home" from the Tampa Bay Rays this weekend, culminating with a 4-2 win on Sunday at Tropicana Field. The Orioles were deemed the home team in St. Petersburg due to the protests in Baltimore last week in the wake of the Freddy Gray death.
"People have been through worse. We're athletes," said Adam Jones, who was 4- for-4 in Sunday's win. "There are more people in Baltimore facing tougher hardships than us. We get to play baseball for a living. ... You have to look at people who actually have to face hardships, and those are the people in Baltimore right now."
Heading to the hill for the Orioles will be righty Bud Norris, who is 1-2 with a 12.18 ERA. Norris, though, hasn't pitched since April 26 when he picked up his first win of the season against Boston, holding it to a three runs and seven hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Norris is 1-1 in five starts versus the Mets with a 4.68 ERA.
These teams haven't met since 2012 when the Mets swept a three-game set. In fact, the Mets have won the last five and seven of the last nine in the series.
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