Mets 7 Padres 1 (Petco Park, San Diego, CA)
Mets record: 68-62
Mets streak: Won 1
WP - David Peterson (8-1)
LP - Michael King (11-7)
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 hit dingers from both sides of the plate, including a grand slam in the 4th which put the game away at 5-0. Lindor wound up with five RBI on the night.
Need to Know
Francisco Lindor homered from both sides of the plate for the 4th time as a Met. Carlos Beltran and Todd Hundley are tied with the most games homering from both sides of the plate with five.
David Peterson threw a pitch in the 8th inning for the first time this season as he has gone at least 7 innings two starts in a row. Peterson gave up a run in 7 and 1/3 on five hits and two walks while striking out two on 96 pitches. His ERA is now 2.85.
The Mets are now 12-3 in Peterson's starts this season.
Pete Alonso got the party started in the first with a 40 mph double off third base which flummoxed Manny Machado and gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.
Dedniel Nunez returned to action tonight for the first time in a month and a day. He retired Jurickson Profar on a ground out and struck out Manny Machado to punctuate his return in the 8th inning. He would finish it off in the 9th for a total of 3 K's in 1 and 2/3's innings.
Harrison Bader broke an 0-for-20 slump with a home run in the 8th off the facade of the second deck to make it 7-1.
Paul Blackburn's Saturday morning imaging came back with no broken bones, and he hopes to make his next start after being hit with a David Peralta line drive on Friday.
Turning Point
The Mets had a runner on first base with two outs in the 4th inning, and Francisco Alvarez hit an 85 mph line drive right to Manny Machado. Machado looked like he misjudged it, and was caught between jumping and not jumping. Or maybe he lost it in the lights. Or maybe Machado's -0.5 dWAR and -1.7 UZR wasn't a fluke as he dropped the ball and kept the inning going.
After that, Michael King hit Jeff McNeil on a 1-2 pitch to bring up Francisco Lindor with the bases loaded. You can imagine what happened after that:
Ballgame.
Three Keys
DP Are You Wit' Me?
The turnaround of David Peterson from last season to this is a storyline that will probably be buried underneath Lindor's MVP caliber stretch, the ups and downs of the bullpen, and the rise of Mark Vientos, among others. But Peterson's improvement might be just as important to the improvement of the team from last year to this. His ERA is down over two runs, hit H/9 HR/9 are down, and even with his BB/9 steady and his K/9 down from 10.4 to 7.4 per game, he's finding a way to get key outs when he needs to.
Case in point: bottom of the 5th, the Padres load the bases with one out and Luis Arraez at the plate. It could have gone completely upside down, and last year it probably would have for Peterson. But Arraez softly grounded out to third (and kudos to Vientos for getting the sure out and not trying to be a hero), and then he got Jurickson Profar to tap back to the mound to end the threat.
Defense Doesn't Rest
In direct contrast to the Padres and their two errors tonight, the Mets defense showed up and showed out tonight. Coming into Saturday's game, the Mets were second in the league in errors with 82, but they're fourth in defensive efficiency at .701 with league average being .692. Tonight, Jesse Winker highlighted the Mets defensive efforts with a sparkler ...
(Winker, by the way, came into tonight hitting .298 as a Met. He's finding a way to contribute in small ways most games.)
The Big Return
Dedniel Nunez's return gives the Mets' bullpen a shot in the arm. his five out appearance was a great sign of things to come as he gives Carlos Mendoza another good option down the stretch.
Teams win in the playoffs with good lineups and good bullpens. There's a long way to go to October (the Braves' win tonight keeps the Mets holding steady at 2.5 games back of the final wild card), but having solid bullpen options will help the Mets the rest of the season, especially if the starters keep pitching deep into games like they have been to keep that bullpen fresh.
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