For one day, everything went right for the Mets
New York wins their third straight game before heading to London. Plus, how the club (finally) played a complete game.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets won their third straight game on Wednesday evening, defeating the Nationals by a 9-1 score (box)
RHP Luis Severino pitched very effectively, going eight innings while allowing just one run on no walks and four strikeouts
C Luis Torrens, fighting to keep his spot on the roster with the impending return of Francisco Álvarez, had a career day at the plate with his first two home runs of the season
SS Francisco Lindor went 2-for-5 at the plate with a home run (10) and two runs scored in the victory
CF Harrison Bader continued his hot hitting, going 1-for-3 with a double, three RBI and a run scored on the day
2B Jeff McNeil was benched for the third consecutive game, with José Iglesias taking his place in the starting lineup
New York has won three consecutive games, five of their last seven games, and has swept a series for the first time since April
Injury Updates 🏥
RF Starling Marte was scratched from the lineup on Wednesday with right knee discomfort – he received treatment and the Mets don’t consider the injury to be serious
RHP Shintaro Fujinami (shoulder) transferred from 15-day injured list to 60-day injured list
Roster Moves 🗞️
RHP Jorge López released
C Omar Narváez released
Who’s Hot 🔥
OF Harrison Bader is hitting .281/.329/.469 with two home runs, six doubles, 16 RBI, six runs scored and three stolen bases over his last 22 games
Down on the Farm 🌾
DH Francisco Álvarez (High-A, rehab assignment): 0-for-3, BB
RHP Christian Scott (No. 3 prospect, Triple-A): 5 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 7 K
RHP Blade Tidwell (No. 10 prospect, Triple-A): 0.2 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, K
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off on Thursday and Friday as they travel to London, England for their two-game series vs the Phillies starting on Saturday.
A rare night where everything went right ✍️
Not a lot has gone right for the Mets this season. If anything, that feels like the understatement of the year.
Thus far, this has been a year that’s largely been marred by underperformance, unfortunate injuries and painfully embarrassing moments. We’re now in June and I can count on one hand the amount of times this club has actually clicked on all cylinders in a single game.
Who knows if Wednesday’s early evening victory in Washington D.C. will have any sort of carryover effect – or the club’s mini 5-2 spurt over their last seven games – but for one night, at least, everything actually went right for the Mets… for once.
For the first time in who knows how long, the Mets played a complete baseball game. The charge was led by their starting pitcher, Luis Severino, who dealed in one of his best performances in the orange and blue, allowing just one run over eight impressive innings. In the few times we’ve seen a Mets starter go deep into a game this year, it’s often been matched by a largely futile performance by the club’s offense. On this night, however, that was not the case.
New York’s offense continued the hotting they’d shown throughout their series in Washington, led by the unlikeliest of sources Luis Torrens, the club’s back-up back-up catcher, who hit not one but two home runs on the day. Francisco Lindor added a solo shot of his own to keep up his hot hitting of late and the stunningly good Harrison Bader keeps on keeping on, driving home three runs in the victory.
Even after the team jumped out to a big 8-0 lead, I know there were at least some of you out there wondering, or even waiting, for Severino or the bullpen to slowly but surely allow the Nationals to get back into the game – because nothing’s ever easy, right? But that didn’t happen, either, as Severino gave the team the length they desperately desired and Danny Young shut the door in the ninth. No muss, no fuss, and no near heart attack.
Hell, you can even add the defense as a positive in this game as Pete Alonso made not one, not two, but three sterling plays at first base and the club did not commit a single error in their blowout victory over the Nationals.
Now look, as someone who has had very strong words about this club’s poor play and overall makeup this season, I’m gonna need to see more than a good seven-game stretch against two bad teams to think this team is turning things around. No matter how bad the rest of the National League is, this is still a team that’s eight games under .500 despite having a good week.
But for once, I don’t think we need to look at the bigger picture and figure it all out. This one time, let’s just enjoy the fact that the Mets played a complete game that was actually enjoyable to watch from start-to-finish. Because hey, with the way this year has gone, who knows how many of these we can reasonably expect to see again.
Around the League 🚩
Pirates rookie Paul Skenes dazzled at times vs the Dodgers, striking out eight batters over five innings in the club’s win
The Reds scored six runs in the 9th inning to come-from-behind to defeat the Rockies and complete their series sweep
Yankees LHP Carlos Rodón dominated in the club’s 9-5 win over the Twins for their 7th consecutive victory
Phillies OF Nick Castellanos clubbed the go-ahead two-run home run in the team’s 2-0 victory over the Brewers to complete the sweep
The White Sox continued their futile season with their 13th consecutive loss, losing to the Cubs by a 7-6 score
It's best to have a short time memory with this team.
Recent series: got swept, split, and swept. Net? .500!
They just need to split the Phils, play the Marlins like they played the Nats, and then play decently against a bunch of teams hovering around or under .500. They play two games vs the Yankees and end the month with the Astros, who might be dangerous, but now are still scuffling.
The first half of July also is a pretty easy schedule.
It was good to see us look like a MLB team with good pitching, defense and hitting 👍 I’m thinking Torrens is going to win the backup job and Nido goes back to Syracuse.