NEW YORK — The Mets are a national story within baseball for all of the wrong reasons.

With the team on a 12-game losing streak, they have slipped to 7-16 and hold the worst record in baseball despite an estimated $370 million payroll.

The Mets' latest opportunity to end that skid comes at 7:10 p.m. Wednesday against the Twins in the second game of the teams' series at Citi Field.

"There's a lot of noise, especially here in New York, but the one thing in life, you go through adversity," Carlos Mendoza said. "I've been through a lot of adversity before whether it's in the game or outside of the baseball field, and here I am. Right? You find ways to keep going. Same thing with those guys in there. There's a reason why they're big league players."

And the Mets will have some added support as Juan Soto rejoins the team, batting second and serving as the team's designated hitter, for the matchup. Soto has been out since April 4 with a right calf strain.

Clay Holmes will make his fifth start of the season, entering with a 2-2 record and a team-best 1.96 ERA among Mets starters. Meanwhile, Connor Prelipp, the Twins' No. 5 prospect, will be making his big league debut.

Follow along for updates and analysis as the Mets and Twins continue their three-game series on Wednesday night:

Don't expect to see Juan Soto in the outfield in back-to-back games in the near future as he works back from his right calf strain.

Carlos Mendoza said that the team will reassess Soto's condition after a DH day on Wednesday and he returns to the outfield on Thursday, particularly given the fact that he did not go on a rehab assignment. And a routine off day is also likely for Soto, who has not played fewer than 151 games since the COVID-shortened 2020 season.

"We need to be flexible and we have to stay on top of things with him," Mendoza said. "If we see that there's a couple of games, two, three games where there's a lot of running on base, going first to third, first to home, second to home and in the outfield, we'll have to readjust."

The Mets could sorely use Soto back producing at the plate. They have scored an average of 1.8 runs per game during their recent slide.

"I'm just going to bring my 100 percent," Soto said. "I don't know what's going to be the difference, but I'm gonna be out there trying my best to help team in any kind of way."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets vs Twins live score, updates and highlights today