Jeff McNeil threw out a runner at the plate and had a two-run double, helping lead the Mets to a 4-2 come-from-behind win against the Nationals Tuesday night in Washington.
The Mets were putting runners on base but weren’t able to come up with the big hit. Meanwhile, Carlos Carrasco was off to a fine start before running into trouble in the fourth inning. With two outs runners on the corners, Makiel Franco drove a ball into right center. Brandon Nimmo cut it off before it reached the wall and threw it to McNeil, who threw the ball on the fly to nab the runner trying to score from first base.
After the Nats scored on a solo homer in the fifth inning, the Mets finally broke thru in the sixth. They put the first two runners on base and then a one-out walk to Eduardo Escobar loaded the bags for McNeil. He ripped a ball down to first base that Escobar shielded a bit from the fielder. No one considers Josh Bell a good defensive first baseman and with the block and the velocity of the ball, it clanged off his glove. Could have been ruled an error but McNeil was given a hit and two RBIs, which tied the game.
Escobar scored the go-ahead run on a sac fly to shallow right field by James McCann. If I had been the manager, I would have been yelling – “No, no, no, don’t run on Juan Soto. Wait, great baserunning there, Escobar!“ Nimmo was the on-deck batter and he was flat on the ground imploring Escobar to slide, which he did to score the go-ahead run.
Carrasco was motoring along with a low pitch count. But Buck Showalter removed him in the seventh inning with a runner on base and the backup catcher who homered off him earlier coming to the plate. After the pitching change to Drew Smith, McCann threw out the runner trying to steal second to end the inning.
Smith came back on to start the eighth inning. Turns out that because he did not face a batter in the seventh, he had to face at least three batters in the eighth. Smith got two outs around a walk and with his three batters out of the way, Showalter brought in lefty Joely Rodriguez to face Soto and he retired the lefty on one pitch.
The Mets added an insurance run thanks to a sac fly by J.D. Davis in the top of the ninth inning. He didn’t have a lot to show for it but Davis swung the bat well and hit the ball hard a lot tonight. He probably should get some starts at 3B for the slumping Escobar in the near future.
Edwin Diaz nailed down the save in the bottom of the ninth to lift the Mets to a 21-10 record, with a 12-6 mark against NL East opponents.
It really is time to run off 5 or 6 wins in a row.
Escobar and Marte are in deep funks right now as is Lindor. Fortunately their slumps are coming against weaker competition. Lindor did have a great play in the field though. Alonso, McNeil and Nimmo are carrying the offense. Home grown paves the way. Rotation motors humming along. Drew Smith making an early all star push. Maybe he ‘ll setup for Diaz at the midsummer classic. They ‘ll be joining Max, Bassit, Magill and Carrasco at this pt.
Nice team win.. McNeil the star: hitting, fielding, base-running. Good to know the team is confident as the game gets late.
Escobar needs time off.
Marte looked awful.
JD ready to burst.
Cookie another solid game.
Gut Reaction: Carrasco was efficient and provided length. The bullpen again sealed the victory. Rodriguez provided LOOGY relief. Smith remained spotless. Diaz is putting together another fine year. They had only a 2-14 in RISP but had good situational hitting with 2 RBI’s on 2 sacrifice flies. They are playing defense and also doing the things to win games.
Over the course of 100 wins, this is how it might break down:
40 wins by 1 run.
30 wins by 2 runs
15 wins by 3-4 runs
15 wins by more than 4 runs.
The keys to overall success are the 1-run games, which stress bullpen and defense. Buck knows this. McNeil playing very well defensively helps, Guillorme and Escobar help, Jankowski helps. Mets two catchers seem better than average.
This seems … off.
The Dodgers won 106 games last year. They won 24 by 1 run and 46 by 4 or more runs
There remains this idea that good teams are good because they clean up in 1-run games. But the truly great teams are that way because they clean up in blowouts. If a team wins 100 games because they won 2.5 times more 1-run games than blowouts — wager on them falling off considerably the next year.