Mets overcome Scott comeback and late inning horror to win second straight

Mets 10 Twins 8 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 9-16

Mets streak: Won 2

WP - Devin Williams (1-1)

LP - Andrew Morris (0-1)

Seat on the Korner: Bo Bichette

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

Bo Bichette's bases clearing double in the 8th inning saved the Mets from a gut punch loss (which I believe the Mets have a trademark on, but not tonight.) He had three hits including a big one in the 8th to lead the Mets to an extremely wild 10-8 victory.

Need to Know

• Christian Scott made his first appearance in a big league game since a 4-2 loss to the Marlins on July 21st, 2024. It did not go well as he only lasted an inning and a third. He didn't give up a hit, but he walked five and hit a batter before being pulled by Carlos Mendoza in the 2nd inning.

• Tobias Myers came in for Scott and pitched 2 and 1/3 innings of one run ball (the run was unearned), striking out three and giving up two hits. David Peterson followed up with 3 and 1/3 innings, giving up one run on four hits and a walk while striking out two.

• Joe Ryan was tagged by the Mets for 7 runs (4 earned) in his five innings of work. It's only the third time that Ryan had given up more than 6 runs in an outing, and first since August of 2023.

• Ryan Jeffers' grand slam was the first ever grand slam given up by Huascar Brazoban.

• Carson Benge had two knocks while scoring two runs from the 9th spot, including his second homer of the season.

• Devin Williams was awarded the victory for his first as a New York Met. His ERA rose to 10.29 for the season.

• The Mets win combined with the Phillies loss earlier this afternoon means the Mets have elevated to 4th place in the N.L. East.

Turning Point

The Mets had a 7-3 lead entering the 8th inning, but Craig Kimbrel came in and gave up two hits and a walk in two thirds of an inning. Huascar Brazoban came in and gave up a grand slam to Ryan Jeffers to tie the game 7-7. The Mets were in deep danger of undoing all the good that they had done in the previous 24 hours.

But in the bottom of the 8th, the Mets got singles from Brett Baty and Marcus Semien, and a pinch hit walk from Tommy Pham to load the bases for Bo Bichette, who has been desperately looking for his first "Mets Moment". He would get it ...

Bichette would wind up 3-for-5 with two runs scored and those 3 huge RBI.

Three Keys

Back to Walk the Show ...

Christian Scott can't be faulted for his struggles. Whether his lack of command was due to nerves or something else, it's unfair to expect him to be some sort of Jacob deGrom/Tom Seaver/Nolan McLean hybrid in his first start back from Tommy John surgery.

Scott's stuff was actually good ...

... but that's when he pounded the zone, which was rare. Of Scott's 43 pitches, only 18 were strikes.

Interesting that Scott got pulled after only getting four outs. If the team was in a winning situation, maybe Carlos Mendoza sticks with Scott and gets him 70-80 pitches so he can work through some of his issues. But Mendoza is managing to win games in this early stage (that's what a 12 game losing streak in April will do), so Scott will have to work through what he needs to in bullpen sessions. The Mets could surely benefit from Christian finding himself.

Baby Now We Got the Flow

Did anyone notice or appreciate that the Mets scored ten runs tonight?

The last time the Mets scored more than six runs in a victory was April 4th when they scored 9 against the Giants one day after they scored 10 runs.

Let's look at some of those early runs that preceded Bo Bichette's heroics. First, Brett Baty's three run homer in the first which was my original turning point before the bullpen threatened to burn down Citi Field.

Then Luis Robert Jr.'s RBI double in the 2nd ...

And finally, Carson Benge's second home run of the season in the 4th ...

As the Strangest Story Goes

It's one thing for Craig Kimbrel to load the bases in the 8th. It's one thing for Huascar Brazoban to give up the first grand slam of his career.

But hey, Bo Bichette got the big hit in the 8th to make it 10-7, setting up your closer to pitch the 9th. Easy peasy, right?

Well, leave it to the Mets to mess up free lunch:

Huascar Brazoban thought that the 9th was his. So, he hit the field and crossed the foul line. I was today years old when I learned that once you cross the foul line as a pitcher, you have to pitch to at least one batter. All this while the lights were going out and Devin Williams was coming in to some fancy schmancy entrance music. Williams has to go back, and Brazoban has to pitch to a hitter.

We'll let Carlos Mendoza explain how the heck that happened:

Brazoban then gets his batter who, thankfully, he retired to start the 9th. So now Devin Williams has to come in a second time. Williams came into the game having retired only 4 or his previous 16 hitters, but he strikes out Luke Keaschall for the second out. Okay, no problem. But then, a single by Brooks Lee who goes to second on defensive interference. Then an RBI single by Tristan Gray, and a double by Byron Buxton setting up a situation where a single would have tied the game for the Twins and sent the Citi Field crowd into full pitchforks and torches mode.

Thankfully ...

Thanks to whichever Good Lord you pray to. Long live the streak.