Bassitt carries sleepy Mets, who keep the good times rolling
Bassitt carries sleepy Mets, who keep the good times rolling
The Mets extend their NL East lead to seven games over the idle Braves. Plus, how the club still clawed out a victory despite a mostly flat performance.
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What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets kept the good times going, defeating the Reds by a score of 5-1 on Monday night at Citi Field (box)
RHP Chris Bassitt delivered one of his best performances in a Mets uniform, allowing just one unearned run over eight innings with eight strikeouts
RF Starling Marte delivered the keynote hit, smacking a two-run home run just five pitches into the game for his 12th of the season
Trade deadline acquisitions Daniel Vogelbach and Tyler Naquin continued to contribute in a big way, combining to drive in three of the club’s five runs on the night
SS Francisco Lindor nearly connected on his 20th home run of the season but was robbed on a tremendous leaping grab by former Mets outfielder Albert Almora Jr.
Since June 5th, the day Max Scherzer came off the injured list, Mets starting pitchers are 14-5 with a 2.26 ERA and 9.7 strikeouts per nine
With the victory, the Mets are now 28-7 in series openers this season, 55-11 when scoring first and 62-0 when leading after eight innings
New York increased their lead to an even seven games over the Atlanta Braves, who were unlucky enough to have the night off
Who’s Hot 🔥
Following his worst start of the season, Chris Bassitt has gone at least six innings in nine straight appearances while posting a 2.12 ERA
Daniel Vogelbach has now reached base safely in all 14 games played since being acquired by the Mets
Tyler Naquin also stayed hot as he drove in a pair of runs and is now hitting .346/.346/.769 in nine games since joining the club
Playoff Odds Tracker 🎲
The Mets are 71-39 and lead the Braves by seven games in the National League East with 52 games to go. They are on-pace for 104 wins, which would be the second-highest mark in franchise history (108 in 1986)
The Mets have seven games remaining against the Braves in 2022, including a three-game series at Citi Field to conclude the regular season
The Mets have seven games remaining with the Phillies - they will not play each other after August 21
The Mets have the sixth-easiest schedule down the stretch of the season (.478 opposing winning percentage, per Tankathon)
Playoff odds (FanGraphs):
Make the playoffs: 100 percent ↔️
Win the National League East: 92.8 percent ⬇️
Clinch first round bye: 92.3 percent ⬇️
Win the World Series: 17.1 percent ⬆️
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (71-39) vs Reds (44-64)
Where: Citi Field — Flushing, New York
Starters: RHP Carlos Carrasco 12-4, 3.82) vs LHP Mike Minor (1-8, 6.19 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY, Playback
Even on a mostly flat night, the Mets still get it done 📝
It was not the sharpest night at the ballpark for the Mets on Monday night.
Following an intense, emotional and flat-out long five-game series against the Braves in front of a mostly sold out crowd at Citi Field over the weekend, there were quite a few people wondering if the team would suffer a bit of a letdown.
In many, many past seasons, that flat performance often times would have resulted in a disappointing, hapless loss against a team they were clearly better than. But that doesn’t seem to happen much around these parts anymore, does it?
On the whole, the Mets played a pretty sloppy game. There was a concentration error by Pete Alonso that led to the Reds’ only run, the offense largely sputtered after a quick start and Chris Bassitt dealt with a bevy of baserunners over his final three innings. But, as we’ve said all year, this team still managed to get the damn thing done.
“Every time you have wondered about a trap game, a trap series, the Mets have found the wherewithal the keep the ball rolling,” SNY play-by-play broadcaster Gary Cohen said after Monday night’s win.
This team just always seems to find a way. After getting off to a rollicking start thanks to a leadoff homer by Starling Marte, the Mets offense went into hibernation mode for a large chunk of the night. For several innings, the team was whiffing more than usual and was struggling to even make decent contact. But in their final at-bat, when they needed one more hit to finally put this game out of reach, they found a way. With two outs and nobody on, new addition Daniel Vogelbach ripped a ball into the gap for a two-out double, and two batters later his fellow recent trade buddy Tyler Naquin came through with a clutch two-run triple off the wall in right field, giving the Mets a 5-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
A lot of credit here also deserves to go to Bassitt, who was the team’s biggest hero of the night during the frames where the offense wasn’t providing much thump. Despite dealing with several baserunners and big jams throughout the night, Bassitt persevered and got the outs he needed every single time. With the bullpen clearly short following the five-game series over the weekend, Bassitt bulldogged his way to a season-high 114 pitches over eight innings to put the Mets on his back and carry them to another victory.
“When you have the goals that we have, to play as well as we want to play, I think you just put your head down and come to the park every day and you do what you have to do to win,” Daniel Vogelbach said after the game. “Some days are gonna be easier than others, but the common goal is to win every day.”
Once again, the Mets simply get it done. Ho hum.
Down on the Farm 🌾
All Mets minor league affiliates were off on Monday.
The Mets promoted 3B Brett Baty and RHP José Butto from Double-A Binghamton to Triple-A Syracuse on Monday.
Around the League 🚩
The Cubs and OF Jason Heyward will “part ways” concluding the 2022 season, per President of Baseball Ops Jed Hoyer
The Padres lost to the Giants 1-0 and are now on a five-game losing streak
The Orioles continued their winning ways, defeating the Blue Jays by a score of 7-4
The Nationals continued their losing ways, dropping their sixth consecutive game
Yankees 3B Josh Donaldson smacked four hits and drove in three as the club snapped their five-game skid