Mets 4 Yankees 3 in 10 innings (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)
Mets record: 32-36
Mets streak: Won 1
WP - Dominic Leone (1-2)
LP - Albert Abreu (2-2)
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.
Brandon Nimmo saved the Mets from himself. His game winning hit in the 10th made up for a baserunning blunder in the 7th as the Mets gained a split of the series against the Yankees with a 4-3 win.
Need to Know
The game was delayed by rain for 37 minutes.
The starting pitching matchup did not disppoint. Justin Verlander bounced back nicely from his start against Atlanta with a six inning outing where he gave up one run on three hits and no walks while striking out six.
Gerrit Cole similarly baffled the Mets, giving up one run on four hits in six innings striking out eight with no walks.
The teams traded two run frames in the 7th off of the bullpens. The Yankees scored two runs off Jeff Brigham after he led off the frame with a walk and a hit by pitch. Jeff McNeil's throwing error brougnt home the first run of the inning. Then after the Mets brought in Brooks Raley, Isiah Kiner-Falefa stole second, went to third on the wild throw by Francisco Alvarez, then executed a straight steal of home as the entire team seemed to fall asleep and not warn Raley.
The Mets got the two runs back as Jimmy Cordero gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases. Then Rob Marinaccio came in and hit Brandon Nimmo to bring home one run, then Starling Marte tied the game on a base hit to left. The inning could have brought home more runs but Brandon Nimmo was thrown out rounding too far off the bag.
Adam Ottavino and David Robertson were a little shaky but got the Mets through the 8th and 9th. Dominic Leone then came in and stranded the ghost runner with an intentional walk surrounded by a 1-2-3 inning.
Turning Point
The turning point should have been the 7th inning when the Mets tied the game off the Yankee bullpen. But Nimmo's baserunning blunder kinda marred that. So in reality, the game didn't turn until Nick Ramirez came in to face Brandon Nimmo in the 10th.
Three Keys
It starts with the starter: Justin Verlander has been wildly inconsistent so far this season. He's shown flashes of his Cy Young winning self seemingly every other game, while the rest of the time he hasn't been merely mediocre, he's been awful. Tonight was one of the good ones, and the Mets could really use him to give the team about four more of these in a row just to get their confidence back.
Winning despite themselves: Regardless of the win, it can't be ignored that the Mets played some rockhead baseball tonight. Letting Kiner-Falefa dance down the line and steal home without so much as a warning to Raley is mind boggling. Then the Nimmo play where he put himself in no man's land by rounding second hard with Mark Vientos holding up at third was a play I would have sworn would lose the game for them.
Thank goodness that the Mets held the Yankees scoreless long enough to win teh game in extras, but even on Nimmo's winning hit, Eduardo Escobar somehow almost got thrown out at the plate on a ball that Jake Bauers gave up on because Escobar was tagging up on the play instead of going halfway. The Mets will make their lives extremely difficult if they keep making these kinds of mistakes.
Dominic is not a donkey: As mentioned above, the Mets big bullpen guns were a little shaky in the 8th and 9th and got the job done. But it was up to Dominic Leone in the 10th to navigate the ghost runner and try to give the Mets a chance in the bottom of the inning in a game they absolutely had to have.
On a back-to-back day, Leone delivered, only giving up an intentional walk to Stanton to set up Josh Donaldson for the force play. With Drew Smith out for ten days and the bullpen already in flux having lost Tommy Hunter and Stephen Nogosek from the front end, guys like Leone are going to have to deliver. In seven games previous to Wednesday night, Leone had a 2.14 ERA and a .138 batting average against in 8 and 1/3 innings. He improved on that tonight in a huge spot, and he'll be asked to do it more going forward.
Comentarios