Giants 5, Mets 2 (Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA)
Mets record: 12-10
Mets streak: Lost 2
WP - Keaton Winn (2-3)
LP - Jose Quintana (1-2)
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.
Keaton Winn stymied the Mets on four hits in six innings. The Giants scored twice apiece in the second and third as San Francisco built a four-run lead. He allowed only a Pete Alonso home run. Closer Camilo Doval, pitching in a non-save situation, created some of his own problems
Need to Know
Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor are the only Mets to start all 22 games this season.
The Mets recalled left-hander Josh Walker, who pitched the eighth on Monday, from Syracuse before the game. He pitched in 14 games for the Mets in 2023 (0-1, 2.79 ERA). He joins the club along with reliever Sean Reid-Foley (0-1, 3.52 ERA in eight games as a Met in '23). Reid-Foley, who pitched the seventh Monday, is coming off the injured list. The pair take the place of Grant Hartwig and Michael Tonkin, both of whom pitched two innings apiece in relief on Sunday. Hartwig was sent to Triple-A. Tonkin was designated for assignment for the second time already in 2024 by the Mets (and third time overall).
Former Citi Field favorites Wilmer Flores and Michael Conforto started against their former team. Flores entered the series with a .225 career average against his former team with 4 doubles, 3 HR, 6 RBI against his former club. Conforto came into the game with a .100 career average against the Mets (1 for 10). Conforto homered for the first time against his former team, added a single, and scored twice. Wilmer walked and scored.
Coming into the series, the Mets had a career record of 35-42 at Oracle Park (.455). The Mets lost their first 12 regular-season games played at the ballpark, then known as Pac Bell, until Steve Trachsel finally won there on May 17, 2003. That skein covered four seasons, not including the extra-inning postseason win in Game 2 of the 2000 Division Series.
Turning Point
Jose Quintana caught a huge break when Nick Ahmed's line drive into the left field corner was foul by inches with the bases loaded in a scoreless game in the second inning. The SNY score box had to be reset and the runners returned to their bases. Ahmed then hit a hard shot up the middle that Francisco Lindor dove for and got a glove on, but he ball bounced off the thumb of his mitt and rolled far enough away for the second run to score. Same result: Two RBI but Ahmed got a single instead of a double.
Three Keys
Holding On
Thanks to Jose Quintana's lack of command and Keaton Winn's dominance, the Mets were never really in the game until the ninth inning. The Mets had scored just once in their last 18 innings dating back to Saturday before Giants closer Camilo Doval made it interesting. He dropped a throw at first base, walked two, and threw a run-scoring wild pitch. D.J. Stewart came up as the tying run, but he grounded out to end the game.
Bailing Out
After six superb innings, San Francisco's Keaton Winn allowed a hit to Sterling Marte to start the seventh. Marte then stole second despite being down for four runs. Webb walked Francisco Lindor and was replaced by side-arming righty Ryan Walker (though not as extreme as knuckle-dragging submariner Tyler Rogers, who later pitched for San Francisco). Walker got Pete Alonso to pop up and Brett Baty to line out to center. He issued a wild pitch, putting two runners in scoring position, but he induced D.J. Stewart grounded out to first to end the threat.
Win Winn
Keaton Winn pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his 10-game major league career. His one mistake was a long home run by Pete Alonso that banged off an ambulance beyond the left field fence. He got into trouble in the seventh and was pulled by manager Bob Melvin. Ryan Walker shut the door and Winn's final line was 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, four strikeouts, and walk.