In their first matchup against the Braves this year, the Mets suffered two more injuries but escaped with a 3-1 victory Monday night in Atlanta.
Taijuan Walker got the start and pitched well until being forced to leave the game with tightness in his left side. The last thing the Mets needed was another injury to a starting pitcher but at least it wasn’t as gruesome as what happened to Kevin Pillar. Batting with the bases loaded, Pillar was hit flush in the face with a pitch and blood could be seen everywhere. Remarkably, Pillar was able to leave the field under his own power but no update was given during the game.
Tomas Nido doubled in the seventh inning and scored the first run of the game on a pinch-hit double by James McCann. Nido got the start and had three hits. McCann scored the second run when Pillar got hit and Johneshwy Fargas doubled home Nido for an insurance run in the eighth.
Sean Reid-Foley did a masterful job in relief, pitching three hitless innings with five strikeouts, and picked up the win. Edwin Diaz shut the door in the ninth with minimal grief, allowing just a walk to Freddie Freeman, though the Braves batters helped him out some. But beggars can’t be choosers and Mets wins in Atlanta don’t happen with great regularity. It was a good way to put the bad taste from Tampa out of the team’s mouth. Now we just have to hope for good news about Pillar and Walker.
I do believe we might be seeing something take place here. The Mets, largely without a real leader and with no true identity, might be coming together around the Bench Mob. I have a feeling something may come of this… a different guy each night making the key play. Tonight it’s Nido and Fargas, Reid-Foley… even McCann “off the bench”…
Come back strong, K.Pillar!
While we believe the Mets can win every game and when they don’t, there’s something to fault, today was a game I really feel they stole. The Braves are healthy and gave a good pitching performance while the Mets are playing with the backups backups. Too, one of your two or three healthy decent starting pitchers goes down after just three innings.
But, the bullpen locks down Atlanta better than Coronavirus ever did and the Mets get back to back doubles from unlikely sources, a painful HBP after the bases were loaded and a Texas Leaguer into short right field, and that’s their three runs! Meantime, with runners on base the Braves ended both their seventh and eighth innings on line drives to Peraza. Hey, it’s better to be lucky than good.
Pillar tweeted that he’s doing fine and as Gary Cohen said, the last time he got hit in the face he played the next game, but hopefully he takes a few days off to heal.
Tomorrow may just be Thomas Szapucki’s first MLB start as well as Khalil Lee’s. With two 50 stolen base guys in AA in the lineup, along with Villar and Lindor, I hope Rojas has a plan on best utilizing the speed and adapting to a small ball mentality. We may even see a hit and run, if it’s still legal and they actually have a sign for it.
I think small ball is a great idea, especially with the power outage of their key bats.
Each of the 162 games counts the same, but this was a really big win for this team. Given the additional injuries sustained last night, combined with the lack of OF and SP in the immediate future, the W was huge. It ended the losing streak, avoiding what could potentially be/have been a giveback of the 7 game winning streak.
The pen was terrific, Nido excelled offensively, and McCann had a clutch and hopefully a confidence-building hit.
Nido’s clearly feeling frisky at the plate, and it will be interesting to see how quickly Rojas returns him to the lineup. Best guess is that he rotates the two catchers this series, trying to send a message to both: “We like you, Nido” and “We still like you, McCann.”
Also clearly Rojas has an opportunity here to manage with a free pass. No one expects the team to be competitive this week, so he can roll the dice and play to the team’s traits… small ball, a lot of running, timely hitting, and gritty pitching in the trenches.
As I said is an earlier post, this may be the opportunity for the team to establish an identity, which was ellusive and not a given two weeks ago. Every pennant season has a unique identity… just ask the Baby Shark Nationals most recently…