The Mets broke out the long ball, hitting two homers and three doubles to power their way to a 6-3 win over the Yankees Tuesday night at Citi Field.
After falling behind, 2-0, in the top of the first, the Mets responded with a four-run bottom of the inning. Starling Marte hit a one-out solo homer and was followed by back-to-back doubles by Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso that plated another run. Eduardo Escobar capped the inning with a two-run blast, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 4-2 lead.
The Mets added another run in the third inning, with a double by Marte, who came around to score on an error. After the early explosion, the offense then took off until the eighth inning, when Jeff McNeil drilled a ball to the opposite field, breaking an 0-19 slump with an RBI single.
Taijuan Walker recovered from a shaky first inning to complete six, allowing three runs. Adam Ottavino got the next five outs and Edwin Diaz came on for a four-out save, his 21st of the season. Diaz recorded each out by strikeout, aided by his error on a potential inning-ending double play.
Having pitched in three of the last four days, Diaz is likely unavailable on Wednesday. Max Scherzer gets the start and hopefully can go deep in the game and make it easier on the pen.
I swear they read this site.
Nice win taking the first game with your ace up next. Bats are heating up again. Loved seeing some long ball. Even with having to pay Cano, does anyone still think that giving up a star prospect was a bad idea. Cano was the expensive tag along contract. Lets go for the sweep tomorrow.
Gut Reaction: it was a great first inning bounce back. Escobar home run was the turning point. He hit it right-handed. He is an asset when there is a LHP on the mound. The left-handed batting Batty would be a supplement to Escobar. They should have promoted him to AAA in June and then evaluated him to call up in August. But that boat sailed and the opportunity lost. They should have done that also with Alvarez.
Last night it seemed like a playoff game to me and the win made me ecstatic. Diaz is “Sugar”. It is only July but a win tonight would be so sweet. LGM
I believe Diaz will absolutely be available tonight.
No game on Monday. He pitched on Tuesday. He can pitch on Wednesday. Day off on Thursday.
He’s not Lugo.
Nice win!
Bring up Medina to close tonight!
Buck made a vague comment in the postgame, essentially that he learned different things during the day that made him rethink the pen usage three times before the game even started.
Then you look at him trying to use Otto for 2 innings and stretching Diaz to 4 outs.
My suspicion is about availability. My guess: Lugo N/A and very possibly Smith N/A.
Could be that when May gets back, one of them goes IL. Smith has really struggled but, unlike Lugo, I still don’t see it in his raw stuff. It might be that Smith is (relatively) healthy but exposed, needs an effective third pitch.
Again: So much of bullpen usage is informed by behind-the-scenes info that we simply don’t know. Can only speculate.