Mets 6 Royals 1 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 6-7
Mets streak: Won 2
WP - Luis Severino (1-1)
LP - Michael Wacha (1-1)
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.
Brett Baty keeps it rollin' ... his two hits raised his averaged to .327 on the season, and his two RBI double in the 5th turned a close game into a comfortable lead as the Mets would take the opener from the Royals by a score of 6-1.
Need to Know
This was Michael Wacha's first appearance against the Mets since he pitched for them during the 2020 seson. It didn't go particularly well for him as the Mets tagged him for 5 runs on 10 hits in six innings.
Fans at Citi Field gave Francisco Lindor the "Trea Turner Treatment" on Fridy. They gave him a nice hand efore his first at-bat in the first inning, nd Lindor flied out to left field to end the inning. They kept up the ovations for the rest of the game as Lindor went 1-for-3 with a walk.
Luis Severino gave up one hit in his five innings of work. That hit was a long home run in the second by Salvador Perez. Severino walked four, but also had a stretch where he retired eight in row in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Severino struck out four in his 90 pitches.
The Mets pitching as a whole only gave up three hits to a team that not only had a seven game win streak, but had 11 hits yesterday against the Astros in the first inning alone. Severino, Jake Diekman, Reed Garrett, Adam Ottavino, and Jorge Lopez did the damage, with the bullpen throwing four scoreless innings.
Jeff McNeil is heating up. His 3-for-4 night raised his average to .256 on the season. Just six days ago it was .091. For McNeil, it's his first three hit night on the season.
Harrison Bader went 2-for-4 and his now hitting .282 after his third straight two hit game.
Pete Alonso's 4th home run of the year gave the Mets a 6-1 lead in the 8th off Will Smith.
Turning Point
Harrison Bader set up the Mets' first run in the third inning by igniting a two out rally, He singled to right center, and then stole second to set up Brandon Nimmos's two out single to tie the game, and the Mets were off and running from there.
Three Keys
Sevy Dodges Trouble
Between the good stretches and the wild stretches, Luis Severino's outing had a little bit of everything. But Severino gutted through the wild innings to get the win. He got out of the second when the game threatened to go sideways after giving up the dinger to Perez and then walking two. Then in the 5th he found himself staring down Bobby Witt Jr. with two on and two out.
Severino lasted only five innings on 90 pitches, but a big part of that was a 12 pitch walk to Adam Frazier in the fifth. As the season goes along and Severino finds the life on his fastball (his velocity ticked up from his first start to his second), those long at bats will hopefully be minimized.
Jumping on Wacha
The talk before the game on Wacha was about his cutter, and how it had a 30% K-rate. The Mets responded by not letting him get that far into the count. In the 4th after Alonso hit into a double play to leave the Mets with two outs and nobody on, Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and Jeff McNeil all singled on the first pitch to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Then D.J. Stewart singled on the third pitch to give the Mets 4 hits and 2 runs on 6 pitches.
Standing Ovations With Purpose
If you want to give Lindor a standing ovation for anything, give it to him for whatever he taught Baty while he was in Puerto Rico being tutored by Lindor about the nuances of the game. After a tough spring, Baty's game has gone to a new level, with more levels within his reach.
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