Game 14 of 162
Mets 17 - Athletics 6 (Rickey Henderson Field at Oakland-Alameda Coliseum)
Mets record: 8-6
Mets streak: Won 2
WP - Dennis Santana (1-0)
LP - James Kaprielian (0-2)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
Francisco Lindor gets the seat tonight. Thanks to the wildness of the A's, Lindor batted twice with the bases loaded, and he delivered both times. First, a grand slam in the 2nd inning to give the Mets a 6-0 lead, then a bases clearing double in the 5th inning to stretch their lead to 11-3. His seven RBI tied a career high.
Need to Know
The Mets set a club record by walking 17 times. Starling Marte and Luis Guillorme each walked three times while Brandon Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Daniel Vogelbach and Tomas Nido each walked twice.
The final five walks of the game came in the ninth. Former Met Jeurys Familia walked four in a row, and the final walk was by catcher Carlos Perez.
Lindor had come into the game hitting .368 at the Coliseum, his highest batting average in any visiting park.
The A's starters had been historically bad coming into this game with a 9.93 ERA in the team's first 13 starts. That's the highest mark in history.
The A's wildness gave the Mets two very unique innings. In both the second and fifth innings, the Mets scored six runs on only one hit in each inning.
Kodai Senga's outing wasn't up to the standards of his first two. He only lasted 4 and 2/3's while giving up 7 hits and walking four. He had a 12-3 lead entering the fifth with a chance to become the first Mets pitcher in history to get a win in his first three Mets appearances. But after giving up a homer and walking Conner Capel, he was pulled after reaching 96 pitches.
After the long top of the 2nd inning, Senga started the bottom of the inning by walking the lead off batter. If you remember, Senga's first inning in the bigs came after a long Mets rally, and he allowed the first four runners to reach base. So during the 5th inning rally, Senga did something interesting: he warmed up in the bullpen before coming back for the bottom of the 5th. He would start the bottom of the 5th by getting Ramon Laureano to ground out to third. But he gave up a dinger to Aledmys Diaz and couldn't finish the inning.
Stephen Nogosek was in the middle of mop-up duty when Jace Peterson lined a single off Nogosek's back. Nogosek would have to leave the game and stretch out the 'pen a bit.
Gary Cohen and Ron Darling weren't in the regular visitors broadcast booth tonight, because apparently a possum that was living in the walls decided to emerge during a game earlier in the season, and that possium since stunk up the joint to the point that broadcasters can't work in the booth for nine innings.
Turning Point
You look at the final score and you would be tempted to say that the turning point was the National Anthem. But Shea Langeliers' two run HR off Senga in the 4th made the score 6-3. There was a little doubt, believe it or not, in the eventual outcome of the game.
So the turning point became the bottom of the 5th, when the A's brought in Hogan Harris to make his major league debut. After he retired the first batter of his career, he walked Eduardo Escobar, Guillorme and Nido. Then he hit Nimmo to force in a run, and walked Marte to drive in another run. It was then that Lindor put the game away with a three run double to make it 11-3.
Three Keys
Lindor's grand slam in the second inning ended the game before it ever really began. Kaprielian tried to groove a first pitch to Lindor after he had walked five hitters in the inning. But it was right in the spot that Lindor was looking for, and he keyholed it over the center field fence to make it 6-0. The Mets have been a little overanxious at the plate in situations like the second inning, batting with the bases loaded with a wild pitcher on the mound. But their patience was a huge key to the inning. Credit to Vogelbach, Guillorme, and Nido for the first three walks, but major credit to Nimmo and Marte for not getting overanxious with the bases loaded.
Lindor's seven RBI led the way, but the top of the order was also key. Nimmo and Marte drove in five runs combined, and they reached base a combined eight times.
Senga not giving the Mets length in a blowout along with Nogosek having to leave the game because of injury meant that Dennis Santana had to pitch two and 1/3 innings to help get the Mets to the end. His efforts not only earned him the victory, but helped to get some of the other bullpen pieces some rest headed into Saturday's game.
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