For the second time in three days, the Mets rallied to tie the game and force extra innings. And just like that previous time, the Mets allowed two runs in the top of the 10th. And just like before, the Mets scored three runs in the bottom of the inning to earn the walk-off win. Francisco Lindor had the game-winning hit, giving the Mets the 10-9 win over the Guardians Friday night at Citi Field.
We all know that you can’t trust rookies.
Rookie Brett Baty was the zombie runner on second base to start the inning and he scored on a single by fellow rookie Mark Vientos. Eduardo Escobar ran for Vientos and stole second base. And Escobar scored the tying run on a single by rookie Francisco Alvarez, who took second base on the throw home. Brandon Nimmo beat out an infield hit to put runners on the corners. With Nimmo attempting a steal, Lindor drove a single up the middle to score Alvarez to send the Mets to their third-straight win.
Pete Alonso homered for the fourth straight game, this one a grand slam that forged a 7-7 tie in the seventh inning. It was the third homer of the game for the Mets, as Alvarez homered in the fifth and Baty hit an opposite field blast in the sixth.
The Mets needed all of the offensive heroics because of another dreadful night from their pitchers. Carlos Carrasco made his first start since coming off the IL and was not good, as he put the Mets in a 5-0 hole, allowing three runs in the first inning, another in the second and the final one in the fifth.
And when the Mets closed to within two runs, the bullpen gave up more. Dominic Leone got out of the sixth inning thanks to a double play with a man on third base. With the pen in a bit of tough shape, Buck Showalter opted to try Leone for a second inning. That didn’t work out well at all. He loaded the bases with no outs before being pulled for Stephen Nogosek.
That move didn’t work out so hot, either. And it could have been a whole lot worse if not for another double play, this one with Nimmo catching a sinking liner and throwing to the plate. Alvarez made a nice play going up the line to get the ball and they had the runner caught in a pickle. The Mets got the out before the runners could move up a base. That was good execution but really just a terrible baserunning play by the Guardians.
While Nogosek got lucky with that first batter faced, the rest of his outing was not so fortunate, as he allowed a walk, a single, a wild pitch and another walk before being bailed out by Tommy Hunter, who got a grounder for the final out.
After Alonso tied the game, Adam Ottavino and David Robertson gave scoreless innings before yielding to Drew Smith in the 10th.
Smith gave up a two-run homer and looked ready to wear the goat horns before the offense came thru with one big play after another to pull out the win.
It’s a near certainty that the Mets will make a bullpen move before Saturday’s game. Shoot, they might make two. It would be a nice time for Max Scherzer to give a strong seven innings. It’s not realistic for the offense to bail out the pitchers game after game after game.
But it sure is fun to watch.
Shades of 2022 Brian when we felt like we could win every game. And the baby Mets are making an impact. Despite McNeil’s strong play at 2B it seems silly not to roll the dice, see if Mauricio can play there, at least some of the time, and sit Marte who just looks old. If Vientos can play some at 3B, then Baty can be the LH DH and Vogelbach, who looked awful again, can hit the road. Maybe a Nido, Vogelbach and Canha trade for some bullpen help might be in the cards, even if they need to eat some of Canha’s salary. Max and Justin up next. Not going to be a pig, just want a series win.
That was absolutely incredible. The Mets can be so boring to watch for like 5 innings and then bam. That s as exhilirating of a 3 game stretch as any ican remember last season.
Gut Reaction: another amazing win and another clutch home run by Pete Alonso.
Note that Vientos delivered the tying run against RHP and Alvarez (106 OPS+) hit his homerun against a RHP. Baty (.736 OPS vs LHP) had two XBH, a homerun and a double.
There are two spots in that lineup for position spots for four under performing veterans, Marte, Canha, Pham and Escobar. Rotate them until someone get hot. The DH Vogelbach, hasn’t hit in a month. Let the rookies play.
Buck did put in all three Baby Mets! Yay!
And, yes, they can hit against both RH and LH pitchers. So play them a lot!
Marte does look bad. What’s going on with him? Could he have aged that quickly—or is it an injury?
Too bad Robertson, Ottavino and Bigham can’t pitch every day. I’m still worried about the bullpen!
Fun to watch again… I had been tuning out after early inning onslaughts..
And BTW, what’s with this “content not available at your level” notice? Never saw that before. Super-secret cyber metrics?
Which post did you get this on?
“Can May struggles bring October successes?”
What an awesome victory! We say it when they have a meltdown, but it also applies for wins like this too: “The Mets are gonna Met!”
Great chat too during the game. I paused the game right after Smith gave up the gopher ball in total disgust and was just shocked watching on delay. I could see something good was afoot from the game chatter so I shut that down too. What a great night.
Someone wrote earlier this week about how the Mets momentum affects their daily outlook and that is so true for me too, especially today!
LFGM!
Alvarez seems to have found his footing. Baty has earned the confidence of the team and Vientos is going to as well if the Mets give him time. The Team will be playing a double header and I would expect some amount of lineup tom-foolery with Vogelbach and Sanchez each getting a game.
FWIW, Mauricio’s BA has climbed to .356 and he no longer has the protection of three big hitters in the lineup. If Marte is hurt he should go get healthy and let the team promote the final Baby Met in the meantime.
I was surprised by the Showalter decision to pinch run with Escobar but Escobar ran very very well.