Ho-hum, another day, another late-inning comeback by the Mets.
A five-run eighth inning, after they managed just one hit thru the first seven innings, led to a 6-2 victory over the Phillies in Game 1 of the NLDS Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
The Mets couldn’t do anything against Phillies starter Zack Wheeler. But he was lifted after throwing 111 pitches and the Mets feasted against the Philadelphia bullpen. The Mets put together five singles, a walk and two sac flies in their big rally.
And if that wasn’t enough, they tacked on a run in the ninth inning, too. Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo each had two hits in the game, with Nimmo adding a walk and two RBIs.
The Phillies jumped out to an early lead, as Kyle Schwarber hit a leadoff home run against Kodai Senga. But that was the only damage they were able to do until a meaningless run in the ninth.
Senga threw 31 pitches in two innings and looked pretty sharp for a guy who has barely thrown this year. David Peterson followed with three scoreless frames. Reed Garrett chipped in with two shutout innings and picked up the win. Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek closed the game with an inning apiece.
It was a terrific group outing from the Mets’ pitchers, made even more impressive coming in the hitter’s ballpark in Philadelphia. As the visiting team, the goal is to win one game on the road. But now that the Mets have done that, they have a shot at a 2-0 lead in this best-of-five series. Luis Severino will start for the Mets on Sunday, in another 4:00 start.
Knowing you can come back consistently against the best relievers in baseball is quite the superpower to have in the playoffs. I love this team so much.
What ever is happening just seem unreal. The Metes were last at home on 22 September, 2 weeks ago.
I was out today and couldn’t watch the game but was in the car for a couple of hours and fortunately they had the Mets radio team on Sirius so o got to listen to Howie and not Philly announcers. I don’t know how they keep doing this, but I honestly felt calm and was just waiting for the comeback that I knew would come. What a week it’s been – I hope they can keep this going.
Bob, I really felt the same way. Phillies weren’t pulling away and all it took was one rally. Wheeler threw 111 pitches, but that’s 16 an inning, so they ran him up some with the four walks.
Some random commentary:
If I were the Phillies and/or a phan of the Phillies, I’d be dropping bricks
They lost despite starting the best pitcher in the history of the infinite multiverse – at least, one could reach this conclusion after listening to the announcers’ slobbery – with old-man smacking noises – over said starter.
Also, doofis du jour stated that, after Karl Slobber’s leadoff HR, he scared Senga into not throwing his fastball.
Senga was so scared, he struck Turner out on a pair of sweepers and a Ghost
Walked Harper – arguably not a bad move
Struck out Castellano
Senga did not look scared. Can these announcers be this incredibly stupid?
Further:
Free dripping slobbery is being lavish on all the playoff teams, in general, by baseball mediuh
For example, ESPeeners talked about how CLE has the strongest defense up the middle with that guy that CLE got for Lindor, and some other schlub at 2B
I’m sure you guys can interpret defensive stats better than I can, but the strongest post-season defense up the middle, in my obnoxious opinion, is Lindor / Iggy / Pinky-Taylor
Throw in Torrens behind the dish – that there catcher who singlehandedly has shut down many running games, and we’re #1
Let’s Go Mets… there’s a capital F in there somewhere
It occurs to me that ever since the Toronto all .ost no hitter game the mets have basically been doing this. Nothing for 7 or 8 and then erupting for 5 or 6.
The best is the feeling that the Mets can and will explode at some point. So we feel like they are never really out of a game, especially with how well our pitchers are doing in keeping us deep into games. What a nice job again by Peterson who weathered three walks. What a great display of hitting switching to small ball to beat down the Phillies. Yes, Diaz warmed up but didn’t need to be used. But if the Phillies had homered when they had a few guys on, and had turned it into a slim one run margin, I’d have lobbied for Diaz. Taking the first game on the road with the Phillies’ best on the mound – Priceless.
Severino tomorrow to go two up and return home for the first time in weeks.
Gut Reaction: this team, for the last 2 weeks, reminds me so much of the 1986 team that it is uncanny. When the game is on the line, they don’t give up at bats and they expect to come back and win. Wheeler was dominant. The whole pitching staff of the Mets was more dominant.