Jeurys Familia blew his second save in a week. The Mets didn’t hit all that much against Zack Grienke. In fact, they had no extra-base hit at all, technically.
And they won, anyway.
Juan Uribe blasted a ball off the wall in the bottom of the 10th, scoring Curtis Granderson, who had led off with a double. Uribe was credited with a single, but under any other circumstances, that would have been at least a double. The Mets will take it.
Jacob deGrom went nose-to-nose with Grienke for 7 innings. Grienke is the one who blinked. Working on a 45.2 inning shutout skein, the NL Cy Young Award favorite gave up a scratchy run in the third, with deGrom knocking in the streak-busting score. The Mets were able to add on in the sixth, courtesy of Michael Conforto’s Ron Hunt imitation: he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. For his part, deGrom spaced out three lousy hits before giving way to Familia for the four-out save in the eighth. Familia was up to the task for the first two of those, but then surrendered back-to-back doubles to Adrian Gonzales and old frenemy Justin Turner, and then a base knock past Uribe by Yasmani Grandal for the tie.
The Mets had a chance to win it in the bottom of the ninth when Conforto led off with a walk, but Kirk Nieuwenhuis failed to drop a bunt and the inning was scuttled. Jenrry Mejia walked ancient arch-nemesis Jimmy Rollins leading off the 10th, and he promptly stole second. He was bunted over to third by Scott Van Slyke, but Mejia got a crucial strikeout on Joc Pederson and survived somehow.
In the bottom half, after Granderson’s double, Ruben Tejada again failed to execute a simple bunt. For most of the game, the Mets played almost flawless fundamental baseball. That skill deserted them at the most crucial time, but on this day, it turned out not to matter. It was left up to Uribe to provide his first heroics in a Met uniform.
The San Diego Padres come to town next, and if the Mets can take two games, they’ll clinch a winning July. Very few of us thought that possible.
There’s definitely a feeling the team can come back and win. Adding a few key pieces would make them dangerous contenders for October baseball, but they could punch their ticket to the dance as-is.
After seeing Turner’s double on the highlights tonight (I only watch highlights when they’re worth watching 😉 ) I believe Lagares may have caught that gap liner. It looked just like the hit Jason Heyward took away three years ago in a ninth inning rally. But, winning cures many ills.
While 5-5 would have been better, i can’t be too displeased with 4-6 against the 3 division leaders.
Now the team just needs to clean up against the bottom feeders.
The collision That has held back my beloved Mets. The one between David and Zeke, seemed to affect both players physically . David with the bad back Zeke with the leg bone being jammed into the foot neither recovered to the player they were before That . Hopefully the Mets have turned the corner. Now for a more aggressive manager.
One 8th inning in DC was the difference between 5-5 and first place.
It is a great feeling knowing that the other team can’t score off your ace. It is a better feeling having two more in the current rotation that produce the same results. It is the pitching that will always keep us in the game.
It is looking like a Kirk/Lagares platoon is in the making. Kirk’s failure in the first half makes it hard to put faith in it. Venable would be a solid piece to add.
I hope Conforto turns Cuddyer into a bench player to sub for Duda or Granderson. He has at least 12 days to continue to establish himself. I think he will.
Familia is not tired, he is rusty. Mejia should be the 8th inning set up man. It is so nice to have a bullpen that doesn’t feature walks by TC.
TDA should be ready for the Nats at home next weekend.
Let’s not slip. Let’s take 2 of 3 from San Diego and possibly Venable. LGM