Mets 3, Diamondbacks 2 (Citi Field)
Mets Record: 23-32
Mets Streak: Won 1
Mets Last 10: 2-8
WP: Danny Young (2-0)
LP: Ryan Thomspon (2-2)
SV: Reed Garrett (3)
Seat On The Korner: Francisco Lindor
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.
Francisco Lindor, the driving force behind the players-only group therapy session after Wednesday's loss, followed up his words with actions. Lindor went four-for-four, including a home run in the third and the RBI single that tied the game in the eighth. Lindor feasts on Diamondbacks pitching -- his lifetime slash line against Arizona going into the game was .352/.406/.659, the highest against any single opponent. Lindor has now hit in nine straight games. Take a seat, Francisco, and let us know what the atmosphere was like in the clubhouse before the game and how it felt to be the driving force behind tonight's win .
Need To Know
The Mets dodged a bullet with Pete Alonso. All the scans and x-rays on his hand came back negative, leading to a diagnosis of a bruise, and Alonso took batting practice and pinch hit in the seventh wearing extra padding on his left hand. Alonso doubled on a 1-2 count.
Omar Narvaez had a mixed night in the field, committing a catcher's interference in the first and a passed ball that put a runner on third in the seventh (he was saved by an Adrian Houser strikeout). But he did throw out Lourdes Gurriel trying to steal in the second, completing a strikeout-throwout double play.
Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen left the game after six pitches with a hamstring strain. That forced Arizona manager Torey Lovullo into piecing together a bullpen game. Six pitchers followed after Gallen; Justin Martinez, who lasted three innings, had the longest outing of the six
Citi Field has not been friendly to Mets batters this year. Going into the game, they were hitting .202/.282/.322 with 27 home runs and 97 runs scored in 30 home games. On the road? The slash lines are .264/.329/.421 with 31 home runs and 131 runs in 25 games.
Friday's pitching matchup: Luis Severino is scheduled to face Jordan Montgomery.
Turning Point
No, it wasn't J.D. Martinez' eighth-inning home run that missed landing in the Big Apple by only a few feet to the left. The turning point in a game that had a ho-hum feel was Pete Alonso's pinch double in the seventh. The dramatic hit, coming one day after a hand injury that at first appeared IL-worthy, energized the crowd and, it seemed, the team. Two batters later, Francisco Lindor smoked his fourth hit of the game to drive in Alonso, tying the score, and create the karma that propelled the Mets to the win.
Three Keys
Veterans Respond
The vereran leaders who called the closed-door players meeting all responded by -- some would say finally -- playing to the back of their baseball cards. Lindor went 4-for-4. Alonso hit the pinch hit double. Starling Marte went 2-for4 with a stolen base. Brandon Nimmo, starting in center field, made a key catch in the first to save a run. And, of course, J.D. Martinez, hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the eighth. If this is this the game that turns the Mets' season around, people will look back at the meeting as the impetus.
Not-so-great but acceptable Scott
Christian Scott labored through five innings, missing the plate on his first pitch to two-thirds of the batters he faced (14 our of 20). Of his 91 pitches, 25 were foul balls. Nevertheless, he got the outs when he needed them, except for a shaky third in which he gave up a single, a walk and a two-run double to Ketel Marte. The final line: Four hits, two runs, one walk, four strikeouts. Were it not for all the foul balls, he might have lasted more than five.
The bullpen -- yes, the bullpen -- does its job!
Adrian Houser, perhaps creating a niche for himself on the roster, had another strong middle relief outing, pitching the sixth and the seventh and getting a key strikeout that squashed any possible effect of Omar Narvaez' passed ball. Danny Young, called up from Syracuse to replace glove tosserJorge Lopez, was lights-out in the eighth. And Reed Garrett, brought in for the ninth, recovered from a leadoff walk that sent fans for their heart pills and evoked visions of deja vu to record two popouts and a ground out for the save.
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