The Sun Rises in the West! Pigs Fly! The Mets' Bullpen Holds a Lead as The Team Rallies to Beat the Royals, 6-2!

Mets 6 Royals 2 (Citi Field, Queens, NY)

Mets record: 39-54

Mets streak: Won 1

WP - Brooks Raley (4-3)

LP - Alex Lange (0-5)

Seat on the Korner: A.J. Ewing

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.

A.J. Ewing continues to impress, especially at the plate. Ewing followed his four-hit Tuesday game with two more hits tonight, including the leadoff homer that was the Mets' only scoring until the bottom of the eighth, an inning in which he doubled. Ewing now has seven career homers (six at Citi Field). Over his last 23 games, Ewing has six home runs, five doubles, 17 RBI and 13 runs. Ewing's Tuesday night performance would normally make him Seat on the Korner worthy (except for the dismal loss), so we're happy he can take his rightful place next to Ralph tonight.

Need to Know

• Roster moves du jour, part I: Goings: Matt Seelinger, we hardly knew ye. Yesterday's feel-good story (until he took the mound) was on his way to Syracuse. along with his 63.00 ERA. Will he take his place alongside Moonlight Graham in the Baseball Encyclopedia, or will he be this year's Richard Lovelady and make frequent reappearances? Stay tuned. Also leaving the active roster: Austin Warren, on the 15-day IL with right forearm soreness.

• Roster moves du jour, part II -- Comings: Tobias Myers, who has already earned enough frequent user miles on the Syracuse-New York Amtrak to get a free trip to Rhinebeck, and Scrabble-tile first named Xzavion Curry, who began the season in the Mexican league before signing with the Mets and went on to post an unimpressive 4.74 ERA in 49.1 innings at Syracuse.

• A.J. Ewing and Carson Benge are the first pair of Mets rookie teammates to record four or more hits in a game over the course of the same season since Justin Turner and Lucas Duda in 2011. Tuesday night, Ewing became the ninth Mets rookie ever and the first since Michael Conforto (7/25/15) to score four runs in a game.

• When A.J. Ewing homered to lead off the Mets' first, he became the fifth different Met to hit a leadoff home run this year. Also homering in the first spot were Carson Benge, Juan Soto, Bo Bichette and Francisco Lindor.

  The Mets last did this in 1962. The hitters: Elio Chacón, Richie Ashburn, Joe Christopher, Jim Hickman and Félix Mantilla

• More painful negatives from Tuesday night's 16-12 debacle: The most runs allowed in a game since the 21 they gave to Atlanta on August 12, 2023. The most hits allowed (19) since the 22 Atlanta notched in that same game. Tied for the most runs scored in a loss (with a May 24, 2022 game at San Francisco).

• Coming into tonight, the Mets had allowed 45 runs over their last four games, the second-most in franchise history over any four-game span (most: 49, 9/10-14/17).

• It was Military Appreciation Night, and to mark the occasion the Mets handed out camouflage trucker hats. If that doesn't help Met fans hide, maybe they can start handing out paper bags with the eye holes cut out. Are you listening, ShopRite?

• The Mets conclude their series against the Royals with a camp matinee Thursday -- unless the censors deem the Mets' play NC-17. Sean Manaea gets the ball against former Met Michael Wacha.

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Turning Point

One night after the potential turning point kept on changing because of a barrage of hits, this night's turning point was.....a hit batsman? With two outs in the bottom of the eighth in a 1-1 game, Francisco Lindor lined a single to right, Carson Benge worked out a walk and Jorge Polanco, bad Achilles and all, beat out a ball that stuck in Jac Caglianone's glove. It could have been an error but it was ruled an infield hit. Up came Jared Young. Young worked the count to 2-2, and Royals reliever Alex Lange, 34 pitches into the inning, threw a slider inside that caught Young on the hand, forcing in Lindor with the lead run. Brett Baty followed with a two-run single, and the floodgates opened for what became a laugher.

Three Keys

Stellar Scott

Christian Scott gave the Mets just what they expected from Freddy Peralta but haven't been getting: five innings of shutout ball. Scott has been the Mets' most consistent starter, giving up four runs or fewer in all of his starts. But, like Peralta, he throws a lot of pitches to get there: 90 in this start, even though he only walked one. For Scott to have an even greater impact, he needs to cut down on his pitch count so he can work deeper into games and not tax the bullpen -- especially this overtaxed bullpen.

Bullpen Bends But Does Not Break

Speaking of the bullpen, each of the Mets' three relievers had their Rolaids moments but came up big when it counted. Tobias Myers, recalled for the umpteenth time from Syracuse, allowed what became the Royals' first run in the sixth to tie the game, but in the seventh, he came up big with men on first and second and two out to retire Bobby Witt Jr. to end the inning without a run. Brooks Raley, who came in for his third consecutive game, looked shaky and hittable as he worked his way though a Jac Caglianone fly ball to deep right, a Lane Thomas double and Salvador Perez deep fly ball to center. But he retired pinch hitter Starling Marte on a ground out to second to end the inning without a Kansas City tally. And in the ninth, newly called up Xzavion Curry -- expected to be the long man in the bullpen but brought in to preserve Luke Weaver and Devin Williams -- made it interesting after two quick outs by walking pinch hitter Josh Rojas and giving up a run-scoring double to CarterJensen. Up came Witt, the Royals' best player, and Mets fans, on Military Appreciation Night, were having PTSD visions of last night's game. It took Curry seven pitches, but he struck out Witt to end the game. No, that wasn't a 30 MPH wind gust; it was Mets fans exhaling.

Baty on a Streak

With the hit that broke the game open in the eighth, Brett Baty extended his hitting streak to eight games., matching the longest hitting streak of his career. Baty is batting an even .300 during the streak (9 for 30) with five runs, four doubles, four RBI and one walk. His overall batting average is still a paltry .218, but he has, been a credible replacement for the injured Marcus Semien.