One night after putting up 17 runs, the Mets found it a little tougher to muster offense. But they rallied back from a 2-0 deficit and used strong relief pitching to earn a 3-2 victory over the A’s Saturday afternoon in Oakland.
Pete Alonso blasted a solo homer to get the Mets on the board and Mark Canha contributed a homer to tie the game. And they took the lead with their only hit with a runner in scoring position. Daniel Vogelbach walked and Tim Locastro entered as a pinch runner. Locastro stole second. After the next two batters failed to bring him home, Brandon Nimmo ripped a double to right field to give the Mets the lead.
Carlos Carrasco started and pitched to one batter in the sixth before exiting. It wasn’t a great start by any means but it was an improvement over his first two outings. The Mets used their four primary relievers to close out the game.
The A’s had their chances, including the tying run on third base in both the eighth and ninth innings. But Adam Ottavino wiggled out of trouble in the eighth and David Robertson struck out the final batter twice, as the first time he was called for a pitch clock violation. But he shook off that setback and got another strike three to end the game.
The Mets were 1-8 with runners in scoring position, while the A’s were 1-12.
The gods were not kind to Starling Marte, who ripped the ball three times, only for them to find gloves. Nimmo had two hits and raised his OBP to .468 for the season.
Gut Reaction: the scoreless was the huge in this game. Carrasco’s game was pretty good for a 5th starter. Megill and Peterson are still better but this outing and his veteran status still has him in the conversation when Verlander is ready. Locastro steal set up the winning run. His speed as a pinch runner is valuable for the team.
Another Series win but a sweep would be nice with Max on the mound. The next two stops on the west coast trip are going to be tough.
Max has a lingering back ache and his start will be pushed back until Monday. Butto will start instead.
Nice win in a close game. Thankful for Locastro’s speed and for Vogelbach to draw the walk. Not thrilled with his .182 average and let’s face it, nor that the back end of the batting order is a dead zone. Alvarez continues to look overmatched in the area we did not think he needed more AAA time – hitting. Nice job again by the pen. Time for Butto to show what he’s got – these players have been waiting their entire lives to get to the big show. Time to step up.
I hate to say it, but a this point Alvarez looks overmatched on all fronts. Quite lucky that his losing of the count and failing to throw out the runner at first didn’t cost the game. He did make a couple nice throws subsequently, but losing track of the count was not good. On the hitting front, as Ron mentioned, the difference between AAA and the pros is not a step of 1, but a step of 10 or more. He’s sitting dead red and wont get a center cut fb except by mistake and like the movie, he has “trouble with the curve,” so he’ll be swinging out of the zone until he learns not to. Hopefully its soon.
I’m sure everyone and his brother is telling Alvarez to lay off the high pitches.
As a parent, you escalate the reaction. I used to keep my elbows on the table during dinner time. Mom would start off by telling me – elbows off the table. Second time she would say, elbows and give me a dirty look. Third time she’d take her fork and jam it into my elbow.
Not sure what the escalations can be for Alvarez. The other day in the chatter I suggested a kangaroo court fine but that would have to come from the players. Is Alonso or Nimmo the type to do that?
Right now, he’s barely playing so it’s not like they can take away playing time. I’d like there to be an intermediate step before sending him back to the minors.
I think that Alvarez is really pressing. Remember he us really young.
I just hope Scherzer’s soreness is not a lingering problem throught the season.