Mets overcome mistakes, find a way to win a 4-3 game over the Yankees
The Mets earned a split of their brief two-game subway series against the Yankees on a walk-off double from Brandon Nimmo
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets walked-off the Yankees with a 4-3 win in the 10th inning at Citi Field on Wednesday (Box)
Brandon Nimmo made up for his poor game on Tuesday with an RBI in the seventh and a walk-off double in the 10th inning to plate the ghost runner
Justin Verlander bounced back to allow just a run on three hits over six innings, and while Jeff Brigham allowed two runs in 0.2 IP, he was victimized by a throwing error from Jeff McNeil in the seventh and Isiah Kiner-Falefa subsequently stealing home
The Mets earned their 10th walk-off win in regular season subway series history and third against the Yankees one extra innings
The 44,121 in attendance on Wednesday was the fifth-largest regular season crowd in Citi Field history
Daniel Vogelbach is getting a mental break, but is not expected to land on the injured list (New York Post)
Roster Moves 📰
RHP Drew Smith suspended 10 games for a foreign substance violation
RHP Stephen Nogosek did not accept outright assignment to Triple-A Syracuse, instead electing free agency
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off today. They open a three-game series against the Cardinals at Citi Field on Friday.
For a change, the Mets found a way to win… ✍️
For a change, the Mets found a way to win on Wednesday. Usually, it’s the other way around.
It wasn’t easy, of course. They had to battle Gerrit Cole who was simply lights out awesome throughout his six-inning outing for the Yankees on Wednesday. His fastball/slider combination was just deadly and he amped it up on the Mets in the sixth inning to get out of trouble.
The Mets also had to battle their own demons of poor base running, a defensive shift violation and bad defense late in the games all of which nearly cost the Mets the game as all of that combined to put the Mets in a two-run deficit late. Brandon Nimmo was thrown out at second base after making too wide a turn and being forced to retreat on a throw behind him from José Trevino (although the replay might’ve suggested he was safe, but oh well). Then there was the throwing error by Jeff McNeil in the seventh on a double play ball, which was unkind to him in the scorecard since the error was really the result of Mark Vientos’ poor footwork, forcing him to reach awkwardly to his right and the ball then getting behind him.
To Vientos’ credit of course, he otherwise had a splendid game at first base. He picked a couple of low throws and saved Justin Verlander and the Mets infield of some untimely baserunners. He isn’t particularly experienced at first base, and that’s going to lead to miscues until he gets more time there and improves.
Speaking of Verlander, he was just what the doctor ordered on Wednesday for the Mets. They badly needed him to get the Mets to the seventh inning and that’s exactly what he did. He tired out in the sixth inning but battled his way through to give the Mets a big time effort out there. He has been far better at Citi Field than he has been on the road - he has a 3.24 ERA at home this year, compared to a 5.85 ERA elsewhere. How does one explain that for an 18-year veteran and future hall of famer?
No matter, the Mets need more of that and less than what he showed against the Braves last week. His outing on Wednesday eased some of the concerns around Verlander and where he is at this point in his career. One step forward.
On seemingly every other day this season, one would’ve automatically concluded the Mets had set them up to lose after the bad base running, the mistakes and their general inability to even touch Cole. That’s just the way it had gone for the Mets this season - they’ve generally beaten themselves over the first 2 1/2 months of the year.
But not on Wednesday.
Look - I have seen enough baseball in my life to know and fully understand that one game doesn’t change a whole lot for a club. And on Wednesday, the game wasn’t without its flaws and concerns. The quality of play from the Mets since the start of the season has been generally atrocious, with too many silly, unfocused mistakes, poor at-bats and poor pitching littering their quality of play and killing their chances to win games. Their game on Wednesday wasn’t a whole lot different in that regard minus their offense against Cole - nobody was really hitting him with the way he was throwing. But when they did get their opportunities, whether it was to keep the lineup moving or to get out of jams, they made mistakes winning teams simply don’t make, as has been the case all year.
But again, the Mets found a way to win on Wednesday and winning is ultimately the most important play of the game, however it might happen.
They exorcised their own demons in-game, hung tough and bounced back for a change rather than get steamrolled by their own undoing. And it was especially nice to see Nimmo come through with the big hit in the 10th inning. He had quite possibly had the roughest two games of his big league career until that moment, but it was just another example of the character he has - he doesn’t let any negativity get in his way, and he just moves on to his next opportunity with the same positive attitude which has turned him into the player he has become at this point in his career.
Perhaps this was the spark the club needed to get their season on-track. Maybe it was just a one-day treat and Friday will bring back more of the same. Of course, with the bumbling Cardinals coming to town, there’s yet another opportunity for the Mets to soak up a weaker point in their schedule and get their season on the rails.
Time will tell.
Around the League 🚩
Jesus Sánchez robbed Eugenio Suárez of a game-tying grand slam as the Marlins held on to beat the Mariners 4-1 in Seattle - Miami is now 38-31 on the year
The Braves swept a doubleheader from the Tigers in Detroit - they are 10 games ahead of the Mets for the lead in the NL East
The Astros edged the Nationals 5-4 in Houston - they walked off Washington on an error on a 6-2-3 double play attempt
Marcus Semien and Corey Seager led the way at the top of the lineup for the Rangers as they doubled up the Angels 6-3 to improve to 42-25 on the year