Jose Peraza homered in the bottom of the seventh to send the first game into extra innings and Jeff McNeil drilled a two-run single in the eighth to give the Mets a 4-3 win in the opener of the doubleheader and an eventual split of the twinbill against the Brewers Wednesday at Citi Field.
Jacob deGrom started the first game and went the distance, allowing two solo homers. It looked like he was going to take the loss, as the Mets squandered a chance in the sixth inning and then had to face Josh Hader in the seventh, whom they had never scored against.
But Peraza was able to handle Hader and his blast sent the game into extra innings. The Mets sent out their closer and again Diaz did not have his best stuff. He hit a batter with the bases loaded to give the Brewers the lead.
In the Mets’ half of the eighth, Dominic Smith was hit by a pitch and James McCann walked, loading the bases for McNeil. He wasn’t exactly the first choice to come up with the game on the line, yet McNeil came thru with shining colors, ripping a ball up the middle for the game-winning hit.
Smith slid home with the winning run, beating the throw to the plate from Jackie Bradley Jr., who allegedly is the greatest center fielder since Willie Mays. Brandon Nimmo also beat a throw to the plate from Bradley in the first inning for the Mets’ first run. And Bradley went 0-3 in the game, too.
In the nightcap, the Mets started Robert Stock, who they just picked up off the street because the pitching injuries just never stop. Stock didn’t pitch awful, but the Mets’ bats took the second game off and they fell by a score of 5-0. Bradley went hitless in the nightcap, bringing his total for the three-game series to 0-9. After 286 PA this year, he has a .535 OPS. My sincere hope is that the prominent Mets blogger who kept putting Bradley in multiple offseason roster projections for the Mets is reminded constantly of how ridiculous that was, both then and now.
I remember cringing whenever someone wanted JBJ on the Mets… we already had a glut of LH OF, and although I initially wanted Springer, I knew he was not worth the money. I always want a very fast CF, contact hitter who can steal bases. That’s all I want. I wish someone could have taught Billy Hamilton to hit… just choke up, short swing, and spray the ball around and run your ass off… perfect CFer. Too bad JBJ never adapted his game to his skill set. Stupid or stubborn. If something doesn’t work, change it!
“beating the throw to the plate from Jackie Bradley Jr., who allegedly is the greatest center fielder since Willie Mays.”
“the Mets started Robert Stock, who they just picked up off the street”
The sarcasm is strong with this one… most entertaining!
Really tough to watch that 6th inning bases loaded, no out opportunity go to waste with the middle of the lineup against a very hittable reliever. Lindor got caught looking at a borderline strike when he should have been protecting against anything close. Then Smith and Alonso struck out trying to hit grand slams when simple contact would have done the trick. Can’t win em all. Overall, taking 2 of 3 from the Brewers and beating their top two pitchers leaves a nice taste going into 7 straight against the pirates. This is our opportunity to create some distance in the standings and put together a little win streak. Much was made of the 33 games in 31 days stretch. The Mets didn’t play great, but they did stay afloat, and with the lineup back to full strength, should play better from here on out (barring any further injuries). 10-13 over the last 23 games and only lost .5 game from our lead. Might just be our season.
The Mets have managed to pry a handful of victories from the jaws of defeat so far this year. That is a good thing and makes for memorable seasons. It is tough to nitpick when the are in first despite a ton of injuries and weak offense due to great pitching and some very timely hitting. That said…I can’t agree more about that 8th inning sequence. This will happen here and there during the course of 1,000+ innings in a season, but man, that was ugly. The heart of the order all whiffing against a middle of the road reliever, with so so stuff, completely lost and struggling with three straight walks. Lindor again looked lost in that AB, and Pete seems to have left a ton of ducks on the pond so far as well. This is a clear risk heading into the 2nd half. I really hope Rojas has an open mind regarding the batting order…when/if someone, anyone heats up, get them near the top, please.