Instant Karma happened to Ramon Laureano and the result was a 3-2 win for the Mets in 10 innings Thursday night at Citi Field. It’s the fourth-straight win for the Mets and they’re now 12-4 in their last 16 games.
In the top of the 10th, Laureano was the zombie runner at second base for the Braves. He was sacrificed to third and then the Braves appeared to try a suicide squeeze. Except the batter did not offer at a pitch way outside and Laureano was hung out to dry. The scoring on the play was 2-5-2 and on the return throw home, Laureano aggressively tried to knock the ball out of Francisco Alvarez’ hands. Alvarez immediately took off his mask and looked ready to rumble. The umpire did a great job of diffusing the situation by getting right up in Alvarez’ chest to make sure nothing else happened.
The Mets had two runners on and two outs in their half of the 10th when Jeff McNeil lofted a ball to right field. Laureano had to run a long way for the ball and somehow overran it completely. The ball fell safely to the ground and the winning run scored.
Francisco Lindor put the Mets ahead, 2-1, with a two-run homer in the third inning. But that was all the offense the Mets could muster thru nine innings.
Luis Severino gave up a walk and two singles to start the sixth inning, with the second single driving in the tying run. Severino was replaced by Jose Butto, who retired all nine batters he faced and struck out four of them.
Edwin Diaz pitched the ninth inning and issued a leadoff walk. The runner stole second base but one out later was thrown out trying to steal third by Alvarez.
Phil Maton pitched the final inning and picked up the win. Since joining the Mets, Maton has allowed 1 ER in 6 IP, with 1 BB and 7 Ks. He’s been a great pickup for the club.
The Braves had a rare “2 up and 3 down” top of the 10th.
And it’s now possible for a leadoff, two-run homer!
Phil Maton coming from a winning organization knows that when the runner breaks from third on a squeeze, the pitch must be high and outside. I love winning players.
The Mets are finding ways to win on days they can easily lose. The coin flip replay on the late caught stealing certainly helped, as did the Braves’ miscues. That’s baseball and again they’ll take it. This run has been great but in reality they are one of six teams tightly bunched vying for three wild card spots. A losing streak or bad ten game run can drop them out quickly. Hopefully we see 2023 Senga when he returns to go with 2022 Diaz for the rest of the season. Oh, and Lindor had upped his game to MVP caliber.
Yes, overrunning the ball in right field was a serious gift of a winning run. It would have been a great play considering how far he had to run and the upcoming side wall probably was on his mind. How often does that type of play plague the Mets? Too often. McNeil’s play over the last ten games has made up for Nimmo slumping, and Bader being injured, and some lack of hitting from Alvarez. Kudos to Alvarez for that throw to 3B and clearly the boys back at the replay center saw enough not to overturn while we all held our breath. Again, good teams get the breaks and that’s what the Mets have been for the last 6 weeks. Kudos to a fine job by the pitchers in the face of getting almost shut down by Sale. Kudos to Lindor for stepping up again. Senga to take over 2nd place in the division tonight. Like nothing more than beating the Braves.
Gut Reaction: Chris Sale was dominant. He had no hit stuff. Somehow Francisco Lindor took him deep. Jose Butto should be in the rotation. Maton has worked out well but the Mets still to obtain a back end reliever this week.