Chris Bassitt rebounded from a rocky outing last time out to throw six shutout innings to lead the Mets to a 5-1 win over the Pirates Saturday night at Citi Field.
After getting knocked around by the Cubs in his previous appearance, Bassitt cruised thru the first three innings before experiencing some traffic in the fourth. The Pirates put two runners on but could not score. After a clean fifth, the Pirates again put two runners aboard in the sixth, only to have Bassitt turn them back again.
Meanwhile, Eduardo Escobar gave Bassitt some breathing room when he crushed a three-run homer in the second inning. It was a part of a two-hit game for Escobar, who led off the eighth inning and scored on a walk by Pete Alonso.
The Mets could have had a big inning in the eighth but Francisco Lindor and Tyler Naquin both struck out swinging at what would have been ball four.
Escobar’s big blast covered up another poor night for the Mets with runners in scoring position, as they finished just 1-12 in those scoring opportunities.
There were so many chances for the Mets despite the club finishing with just five hits because they drew eight walks and had four batters hit by a pitch.
David Peterson relieved Bassitt in the seventh and had two solid innings of relief. Buch Showalter had him come back for the ninth with a chance to pick up a three-inning save. But he allowed a solo homer, which prompted Showalter to use Adam Ottavino for the final two outs.
Naquin hit fifth; why? Vogelbach has heated up, so drop him to 7th. I remember when we used to say that Bobby Valentine tries to outsmart himself. Showalter has succeeded. In the inning that the Mets scored their fourth run, they had bases loaded and no outs, and it took a two out walk to Nimmo to scratch a run across. Escobar’s second at bat was a bomb to the Grand Canyon of Citifield, or it would have been another three run homer.
The Braves keep winning and the teams are tied in the loss column. Only six home games left. Getting swept by the Cubs in September is borderline unforgivable. I would have thrown the whole bat rack onto the field. No pulse sometimes. A team of zombies – without the Dykstras, Backmans, Knights, Hernandezes, Strawberrys and Carters that fire up the team’s engine – led by an older zombie.
Look gus, I can be pretty gloomy, and the Nats/Cubs series’ were hideous. No one can tell me otherwise. They needed 5 wins. TRhey should have won 5 games
But here we are on Sept 18 with 92 wins and a real chance to get to 100+ With 15 left. I still think 103 is very doable if this team has used a Pittsburgh to shake out of the funk they’ve been in. The only real team left to play is ATL. Not he like the Brewers are a juggernaut. So lets say they can win 10/15 and end with 102 Ws. Hard to throw down on Buck for that and lets remember he will almost certainly be NL Mgr of the year. The 86 team was awesome to be sure, but it was rotten on its inside. We did not get a long run. But we did get a lot of drug abuse, conflict, and burn out.
We have a very professional FO and coaching staff. Lets celebrate that.
Gut Reaction: Escobar’s home run, and the competition, masked the the recent hitting problems. Thanks to Bassitt, Peterson and Ottavino the Mets were in control for the entire game.
Peterson’s outing should give him a advantage to make the post season roster competition. They needs a sweep today. LGM
Escobar to the rescue. This is more of the bat we expected when we got him and his fielding remains solid but not spectacular. He simply makes the routine plays which is most of what a fielder needs to handle. Really thought they were going to break the game open a few times but as you aptly pointed out they continue to struggle with ducks on the pond. On the other hand I always save “save some runs for another day.” Let’s not overlook their ability to take the walks and not swing at bad pitches. Hoping our winning continues to frustrate the Braves who can’t make up the difference as we keep winning. Jake for the sweep today and we certainly need to keep on this roll as we play the dangerous Brew Crew next while the Braves play the lowly Nats. Maybe the Nats will be loose and put a beating on the Braves like they say the Cubbies did to us. One can only hope. Petersen showed a lot after his disaster earlier in the week but if they think he is a viable BP piece then they need to keep throwing him out there. Drew Smith is almost set to return as is Megill. If they can turn our pen into lights out for the 6-7-8 innings then the odds of going later into the playoffs just took a dramatic leap. Nice weather outside so may have to fire up the DVR to make sure that if not live I can catchup up hopefully another 6-7 strong innings from deGrom. LGM