Mets Labor Their Way to Win in Detroit

Mets 10 Tigers 8 (Comerica Park, Detroit, MI)

Mets record: 74-64

Mets streak: W1

WP - Ryne Stanek (3-6)

LP - Drew Sommers (0-1)

SV - Edwin Diaz (25)

Seat on the Korner: Juan Soto

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.

With all of his hot hitting in August -- a ..275/.435/.574 slash line with 10 home runs, 22 RBI, 27 walks, 27 runs and 11 stolen bases, not to mention a runners in scoring position slash line of .391/.583/.652 over that span, Juan Soto was missing that signature moment: the hit you can point to that sealed a win or propelled the Mets toward one. And he nearly had that moment in the fourth inning, when the Mets, trailing 3-2, loaded the bases with nobody out. But then, Charlie Morton struck out Brett Baty and Francisco Lindor, and it looked like Morton would escape without giving up the lead. Up came Soto, who hit a 2-1 curve ball for not only the second grand slam of his career but, amazingly, his first home run as a Met with more than one runner on base. If this were a home game, the Citi Field fans would have brought him out for at least one curtain call and, you'd think the team would ride that hit to victory. But, alas, Sean Manaea coughed up most of the lead Soto gave them in the bottom half of the inning, blunting the impact of Soto's clout. So.......

Soto had another chance to rise to the occasion in the sixth, with the game tied and runners on first and second. Soto lined a triple to right, putting the Mets back into the lead and giving him a six RBI game and clinching his seat on the corner. If the Mets want to make it to the postseason, let alone go deep into it, they need someone to put the team on his back and carry them. Today's game was Soto's statement that he could be that guy.

Need to Know

• The Mets are on the tail end of a 16-consecutive-day game streak, and are 7-7 over the first 14. They are looking ahead to a day off Thursday.

• The Mets are now 29-37-1 on Labor Day.

• The Mets are 22-21 in interleague play this season.

• The Mets failed to build up their cushion over the Reds for the final wild card spot, as Cincinnati coughed up a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth at Great American Ballpark but then came up with three in the bottom of the inning for a 5-4 walkoff win,

• How good an August did Mets hitters have? They batted .366 with runners in scoring position (90-246), the highest in a calendar month in team history, swatting 53 home runs, also a team record for a month.

• While the Mets have one of the toughest schedules over the rest of the season -- including stops in Cincinnati and Philadelphia on this trip -- the American League-leading Tigers play the last month entirely in their own time zone. It is he first time since 2006 that the Tigers have entered September with the best record in the league.

• With rosters expanding by two (one pitcher, one hitter), the Mets recalled Justin Hagenman and Luisangel Acuna. Acuna was inserted into the game as a pinch runner, stole a base and scored a run.

• Francisco Alvarez is scheduled to start back-to-back games behind the plate for Syracuse Tuesday and Wednesday, and if he doesn't break any more hand bones or sprain any more ligaments, he could rejoin the Mets in Cincinnati this weekend.

• The series continues Tuesday with Nolan McLean taking the mound for the Mets against the well-traveled TBA.

Turning Point

The Mets played most of the game as if they were trying to see how many leads they could cough up. They took a 2-1 lead in the second; lost it in the bottom of the third, got it back again in the fourth thanks to Juan Soto's grand slam, but then proceeded to fritter away that lead. So, when Soto came up in the top of the sixth with runners on first and second, it wad yet another opportunity to put the Mets in front -- and Soto rose to the occasion, lining a triple to right, scoring Luis Torrens and Francisco Lindor and putting the Mets back into a lead they never fully relinquished.

Three Keys

Manaea Messes Up...Again

Another rough outing for Sean Manaea, who gave up a home run on his first pitch to Jamhai Jones, another in the third to Wenceel Perez and then, staked to a three-run lead in the fourth, gave two-thirds of it up before being taken out, 83 pitches into another less than five inning outing. Manaea has failed to complete six innings in all of his nine starts this year, has allowed six or more hits in five of his last six starts and posted an August ERA of 7.13. It's hard to say who has been worse -- Manaea or Kodai Senga -- but if one, or both, don't find themselves in the next week or so, the rest of the Mets can start making October tee times (with the exception of the relievers, who will reserve much-needed beds at a relaxation spa).

Small Ball?

For team that's been crushing the ball the way the Mets have been, you wouldn't think that they would use sacrifice bunts to set up runs. But bunt they did, not once, but twice, and both times it set up tallies. After Mark Vientos was hit by a pitch and Jeff McNeil singled in the second, with the Mets trailing 1-0, Cedric Mullins came to the plate in the midst of an 0-for-13 slump. Mullins laid down a perfect sacrifice, advancing Vientos and McNeil. Batting next, Luis Torrens doubled down the line in left, scoring both. Later, in the seventh after McNeil reached on an error and Mullins on a walk, Torrens --after three hits in his previous at bats -- also laid down a perfect bunt to advance the runners and allow McNeil to score on a Brett Baty groundout. Two bunts, three runs.

Diaz and Raley and......

Bullpen roles have a way of shifting during a season, as a manager tries to figure out who can be relied on when. And manager Carlos Mendoza is managing his bullpen mindful of how important each game is for the rest of the season. He didn't hesitate to give Ryan Helsley a quick hook in the seventh when it looked like Helsley was about to cough up another multi-run lead (no surprise there), and then, mindful of how Detroit as a team kills lefties, Mendoza brought Edwin Diaz in to face the right-handed Spencer Torkelson (.954 OPS against lefties) with two outs in the eighth. Diaz got Torkelson to fly out to left, ending the inning, and continued into the ninth for the save. Expect to see more of Diaz in the eighth as the season goes down to the wire.