Omar Narvaez picked a great time to post his first hit at Citi Field this year, as his RBI single in the bottom of the ninth capped a three-run inning and led to a 4-3 walk-off win against the Giants Sunday afternoon. The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for the Mets.
Brandon Nimmo led off the ninth inning with an infield single, followed by a J.D. Martinez single that put runners on first and second. One out later, Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch to load the bases, bringing up Harrison Bader, who had driven in the Mets’ only run of the game. Bader rapped a two-run double to tie the game, with the winning run on third base.
The Giants walked Brett Baty to load the bases, bringing up Narvaez, who came into the game after the Mets pinch-hit for Tomas Nido earlier. Narvaez was 0-27 at Citi Field this year but proceeded to line a single over a drawn-in infield for the game-winner.
The comeback made a winner out of Adrian Houser, who had a strong relief outing. It started off shaky, as the first three batters he faced all hit rockets. Only a HR-robbing catch by Bader kept the inning from being a disaster. As it was, Houser allowed a run in that initial inning, before tagging on three scoreless frames.
It looked like this was going to be a hard-luck loss for Sean Manaea, who struggled early but finished strong. Manaea gave up two doubles and a homer to the first nine batters he faced. He needed 42 pitches to complete the first two innings. But he needed just 30 pitches to retire the side in the fourth and fifth innings. His pitch count stood at 88 pitches and Carlos Mendoza pulled him with the Mets trailing, 2-1.
For the second time this year, the Mets faced the runner up in last season’s CY Award race and were completely handcuffed. They managed just 3 H in 7 IP versus the Giants’ starter, who struck out eight batters. In 15 IP against him this year, the Mets had just one unearned run. Fortunately, they made hay against the reliever in the ninth inning.
Baty got the start, reached base twice and made two nice defensive plays.
Gut Reaction: if you had Houser, Bader and Narvaez on your bingo card today then you should have played the lottery instead. All three were integral for the win. A win, finally!
Manaea should have come out for the 6th but the boogeyman scared Mendoza. Pulling pitchers early results in a tired, stressed bullpen.
Houser got a stay in his DFA sentence with his effective long relief outing. As long as Bader is average on offense than he will justify his playing time. Baty had a solid game also.
Rejoice. The blind squirrels (no disrespect) finally got an acorn. Kudos to showing some late fight. Another 8-10 acorns in a row and they may be back in wild card business. Bring on the Dodgers and the defending NL champs.
I’m not a religious person. So, when I hear the word “rejoice,” the first thing I think of is CSNY.
“Rejoice, rejoice, we have no choice – but to Carry On”
So nice to win a game and in dramatic fashion. And I wore out 4 Way Street during my college days and it’s just as awesome today.
You never know when a win streak is gonna start. After our last 5 game losing streak (to start the season 0-5) we went on a 12-3 run that included a series win in LA. Maybe with the Dodgers coming to town on their own 5 game losing streak we can repeat history and get back to .500 by mid June.