The Mets rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth for a 2-1 win and a split of their doubleheader with the Tigers Thursday afternoon. It was the first victory of the year for the Mets, who had dropped their first five games of the season.
Pete Alonso led off the ninth inning by beach for a low pitch and somehow putting it over the wall, tying the game at 1-1 while driving in the 500th run of his MLB career. Brett Baty followed with a walk and Starling Marte sacrificed him to second with a push bunt. Tyrone Taylor ripped a ball to left field, driving in Baty and getting the Mets the win.
The Mets jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first game, only to watch the Tigers score six unanswered runs, including three in the 11th inning. After both teams failed to score in the 10th, the Mets brought in Michael Tonkin, who again blew the game.
As Gus mentioned in the Chatter, it’s an odd choice to use Tonkin in those spots because he’s not a strikeout pitcher. Rather, Tonkin’s value is to be able to give league-average results over multiple innings. Simply the wrong man for the job.
Adrian Houser started the first game and pitched very well for the first five innings. With a very low pitch count, he was sent out for the sixth but he allowed the first two batters to reach. Carlos Mendoza went to the pen and Brooks Raley allowed one of the inherited runners to score.
Drew Smith came on in the seventh inning and got the first two outs before allowing the next two runners to reach base. Jake Diekman came on in relief and the runners moved up on a passed ball and then again on a wild pitch before Diekman was able to end the threat.
Adam Ottavino allowed a solo homer in the eighth to tie the game.
In the nightcap, Jose Butto had some control issues early and he allowed a run in the second inning on a walk, a stolen base and a throwing error and a bloop single. But that’s the only run he allowed in six innings. He looked very sharp from the third inning on and it’s a shame that he’s going to be sent back to the minors after this start as the 27th man for a doubleheader.
Reed Garrett, who was called up when Tylor Megill went on the IL – when the Mets should have promoted Butto in the first place – hurled three scoreless innings, although he was running on fumes in the ninth. But it was a strong effort and he was rewarded with the win.
Woohoo! A happy recap. Grateful to get home and see the 9th inning. Kudos to Butto for throwing six when it looked early like he might give us three. Thought Pete’s swing was not that strong and that it was going to be quite catchable. Wow. And manufacturing a run the old fashioned way with Marte advancing the runner to win the game. Got five from Houser who ran out of gas, but he kept us in the game. The pen pitched well for the most part with a few notable exceptions. Lot of good to take from today.
Big hit by Alonso! You can just feel the team exhaling and as Taylor said in the post game interview, it picked up the team (and gave them hope).
A win! We’ll take it. On to the road, and they better have packed their hitting shoes…the ones they couldn’t find in Flushing.
Gut Reaction: Strong starting pitching in both games. Butto deserves to be in the starting rotation. Tonkin should be used in the middle innings and multiple innings. Garrett got his 10 minutes of fame today. Baty’s has improved defensively with strong accurate throws. It was nice to see Baty and Alvarez knocking in the runs in the first game. It was poor strategy to have Baty bunting in the 9th inning of the first game. Mendoza seems fond of bunting.
So the Mets end up losing the game where the manager was trying oh so hard to make as many moves as possible to try to win, and then end up winning the game when the manager was handcuffed and just trying to survive.
Not a coincidence. Wish managers would realize that doing less is often better.
The HR pitch thrown to Alonso didn’t seem like such a bad pitch. It was sufficiently outside the strike zone that most disciplined batters would have taken it
I guess Alonso’s strength was the deciding factor because it wasn’t close to his best HR swing