Game 46 of 162
Mets 10 Guardians 9 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 23-23
Mets streak: Won 3
WP - Drew Smith (3-1)
LP - Emmanuel Clase (1-4)
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.
You knew Francisco Lindor had to be a central figure of his first game against Cleveland since the trade that brought him to the Mets. His game winning single capped a bonkers game which saw comebacks from 5-0 and 7-3 down, and a 10th inning which featured five runs: two by the Guardians and three by the Mets for a crazy 10-9 victory.
Need to Know
This was the first game that Francisco Lindor played against the Guardians since they traded him to the Mets with Carlos Carrasco for Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez.
Josh Naylor's first inning HR which gave the Guardians a 3-0 lead made it 13 straight games where the Mets' opponents scored first. It also put the first inning tally at 41-10 in favor of the opponents this season.
Naylor went 3-for-5 and drove in five runs, also driving in two runs in the 7th to make it 7-3 and seemingly put it out of reach.
Carlos Carrasco's first outing back from injury was about as you would expect. Five innings, five runs, five hits, two walks, three strikeouts, and the three run HR in the first inning to put the Mets in another hole.
Drew Smith came in to a tie game in the 10th and gave up his first home run of the season, a two run go-ahead shot to Gabriel Arias. At this time last season, Smith had already given up nine home runs.
This was the second game in three days where the Mets were down two runs in their final at-bat and came back to win the game.
Turning Point
The Mets were down 5-0, scratched back to 5-3 thanks in part to a home run by Francisco Alvarez, but Josh Naylor's two run single in the top of the 7th stretched the lead to 7-3. But in the bottom of the 7th, But after Sam Hentges walked Brandon Nimmo, gave up a single to Lindor, and walked Jeff McNeil, Pete Alonso came up as the tying run against James Karinchak with the bases loaded and nobody out.
Alonso now has a home run in each of his last four games, and the Mets as a team have 9 home runs in that span as well.
Three Keys
The Kids: The three young players who were brought along at a nice, easy pace had their fingerprints all over this game tonight, and no more so than in the 10th inning. Brett Baty, who went 2-for-5, started the inning as the ghost runner, and Mark Vientos drove him in with a single to make it 9-8. Then with two outs and on an 0-2 count, Alvarez took a cutter from Clase and lined it through the hole in left to tie the game. Alvarez went 2-for-4 on the night as well.
The Vets: Don't forget about the other 23 players on the roster, including Eduardo Escobar. He pinch ran for Vientos in the 10th after Mark's base hit, and almost immediately stole second base ... a key steal which got him home on Alvarez's hit. Then Brandon Nimmo took an 0-2 pitch and chopped it to shortstop for an infield hit which kept the inning alive for Lindor, who then lined the first pitch past Andres Gimenez to win the game.
The defense: Without key plays in the field, the deficit that they would have had to crawl back from could have been a whole lot worse, and could have been insurmountable. Before Naylor's two run single in the 7th, the Guardians had the bases loaded and nobody out. Stephen Nogosek then came in the game and got Amed Rosario to line into an 8-2-5 double play. Without it, Naylor's hit may have made the game 9-3 or 10-3 instead of 7-3.
Then, two sparklers in the 9th. First, Jeff McNeil against Steven Kwan:
Then, Pete Alonso to rob Jose Ramirez to end the inning:
Both plays highlighted David Robertson's third appearance in a row for the Mets, something he hadn't done since 2021 when he was with the Cubs.