A combination of effective pitching and timely hitting helped the New York Mets in their efforts of beating the San Francisco Giants 2-1 in 11 innings.
On the mound for the Mets in AT&T Park today was the lefty Steven Matz, and he pitched nearly flawless over the seven innings that he was in the game. He allowed only three hits, a walk, and one earned run that came from an Evan Longoria home run. He was dominant, showing great command and knowledge of the strike zone by striking out a career-high 11 Giants. It would be a great day for Mets pitchers, as the strikeouts continued to roll after Matz left the game.
Out of the bullpen, Seth Lugo took command in the eighth inning. He was lights out in his two innings on the mound, striking out two on his way to two hitless innings. Jerry Blevins then came into the 10th, and worked his way around a walk to throw a scoreless inning. Following the Mets taking the lead in the 11th, Robert Gsellman came on and earned the save. Today, Mets pitchers had 16 combined strikeouts, which just went to show that Mets pitchers are capable of being at a good level of production. My Gut Reaction is that all of the staff is treating September as an audition for next season, so we will see some great outings.
At the plate, Tomas Nido had a great day for the Mets, going 2-4, including an RBI double that drove in Brandon Nimmo to tie the game in the top of the fifth. With the game tied at one in the 11th however, it was no other than Wilmer Flores, Mr. Clutch, that led off the top of the inning with a double. After being moved over to third on a Jay Bruce sacrifice grounder, Todd Frazier drove Flores in to put the Mets ahead for good, 2-1.
Sealing the victory in the bottom of the 11th was a sprawling catch by Nimmo on a ball that started dying in the air. As he laid out, the signature smile beamed on his face.
Following the win, the Mets now sit at 15 games under .500 for the season. Tomorrow, Noah Syndergaard will take on Chris Stratton at 4:05 at AT&T Park in the rubber game of the series.
Looks like Matz and Wheeler are finally catching the contagious deGrom flu. Nice to see the Mets’ offense, or lack thereof, doesn’t discriminate.
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This Giants lineup is even worse than the Mets’ lineup, so it’s hard to get too excited about our lefty enigma.
Captain Clutch with a leadoff double and then fundamentals for the win. It isn’t hard, but the Mets often struggle with the simple stuff.
Rosario with another error on a ball right at him but makes great plays going in the hole. Seems like he needs to focus on just making that play, and many young players struggle with their consistencies.
Tired of everybody and their mother talking about how slow Wilmer Flores is. Yes, he’s slow, it’s not a secret. But Jay Bruce is slower, as is Mesoraco, as are many players in MLB. Don’t understand why it’s the only thing people bring up. Never do we hear how good fundamentally he is batting and how he rarely doesn’t hit to the situation. Nor do we hear how he is a tough out because he actually doesn’t need to hit it to the moon in each at bat. No, all we hear is how slow he is. While all of you bitch about how much he sucks – Madman – realize that he’s the best you have! He’s better than the $13MM man, he’s better than the $8MM man. While you spend your time bitching about Flores, they suck much more; but of course you don’t notice that.