Taijuan Walker shines, Edwin Díaz slams the door as Mets win an important series in Anaheim
The Mets are finally coming home after a very long 5-5 road trip out West. Plus, the schedule doesn’t get easier quite yet.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets finished off their road trip out West with a victory over the Angels by a score of 4-1 (box)
RHP Taijuan Walker was outstanding in his outing striking out ten batters in six innings of work while giving up just one run
RF Starling Marte (quad tightness) picked up two hits and a RBI in his return to the lineup after a brief absence
1B Pete Alonso slugged another home run, his 18th of the season which leads the National League. His 57 RBIs are also tops in the league and he is just two behind José Ramirez to lead the majors
3B/DH JD Davis went 2-for-4 and hit the go-ahead home run in the fourth
2B Jeff McNeil went 3-for-4 while batting eighth — it was the fifth time this season McNeil has recorded three or more hits in a game
RHP Edwin Díaz entered in the eighth inning on Sunday for a five-out save and picked up his first multi-inning save of the year, striking out five of the six batters he faced including Mike Trout while hitting 101.6 on the radar gun
The win over the Angels gave the Mets their 40th of the season in their first 62 games. This is the second fastest they’ve done that in franchise history only behind the 1986 team. They are also the first team in the National League to reach that mark
The victory pushed them to 5-5 for their extended West Coast road trip, 21-14 on the road, 12-10 vs lefty starters, 10-15 when the opponent scores first, 36-0 when leading after eight innings, 33-5 when scoring four or more runs, and earned their 15th comeback win of the year on Sunday
Just Mets on Playback 📺
Our first ever live Mets watch party, hosted by Rich MacLeod, Michael Baron and Andrew Claudio, will be this Wednesday night at 7:10 PM as the Mets face-off against the Brewers at Citi Field.
Be sure to sign up for Playback (it’s free!) and join us on June 15th at getplayback.com/room/justmets 🍎
Who’s Hot 🔥
Over his last 14 games, JD Davis has hit .367/.418/.510 with four doubles, a homer and six RBI. Davis continues to hit well primarily serving as the team’s DH — he is now hitting .302/.371/.354 in 25 games overall as the designated hitter
With three more hits on Sunday, Jeff McNeil raised his average to .320 for the season which puts him third in the National League
RHP Edwin Díaz recorded his 12th save of the year on Sunday and lowered his ERA for the year to 2.13. He now has 48 strikeouts in 25.1 innings pitched, good for a rate of 17.05 strikeouts per nine innings which leads the league
Today’s Game 🗓
The Mets are off on Monday — they will face the Brewers at Citi Field for the start of a three-game series on Tuesday night.
The Mets roller coaster road trip was a success, but there’s no rest for the weary ahead 📝
The Mets are finally coming home after facing the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels after a long and strange trip out west.
It was a daunting task and as JD Davis mentioned after their series against the Dodgers, they passed their first “quiz” by splitting four games against a an elite Los Angeles club.
Unfortunately, things did not go quite as well in San Diego. They dropped two of three to the Padres and the two losses were not competitive. In those two losses, the Mets were outscored 20-2 while both RHP Taijuan Walker and RHP Chris Bassitt got clobbered, two pitchers they need to rely on with Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom still on the shelf. To add insult to injury, the team lost both 1B Pete Alonso (hit by pitch in the hand) and RF Starling Marte (quad tightness) in one game against the Padres with what turned out to be minor injuries, although they took them out of action which adversely impacted their lineup for a few days.
And recall how this road trip started in Los Angeles with Francisco Lindor slamming his finger in his hotel room door, causing a small fracture in the tip of his finger which sidelined him at the jump of that critical four-game series.
Indeed, it was a rollercoaster for the first seven days of this 11-day trip to Southern California with the Mets sitting 3-4 while the Braves and Phillies began to close the gap on them in the National League East, riding the waves of long winning streaks to help put their difficult starts to the 2022 season behind them.
But the Mets’ fortunes changed for the better when they headed back up the freeway to Anaheim to face the Angels this past weekend.
RHP Tylor Megill made a successful return to the rotation after dealing with biceps inflammation over the last month and both Alonso and Marte were able to avoid the injured list while positively impacting the outcome of this series in their own ways. Marte’s return last night included a double and an RBI and Alonso hit two home runs over the weekend, the second of which put Sunday’s game to bed in the top of the 9th, helping to pad his early bid for the league’s MVP with his league-leading 18th home run and 57th RBI.
Perhaps they lucked out when RHP Noah Syndergaard’s scheduled start against his old club was pushed back for what the Angels called, “rest,” but either way the Mets did what they had to do, checking the box with a .500 road trip which at times seemed to be veering sideways for them. The first turning point came last Sunday against the Dodgers when Adonis Medina pulled a rabbit out of his hat to save the day and the series at Dodger Stadium, and then of course there was last night when Edwin Díaz came in with lightening shooting from his hands and blew away Mike Trout in the eighth representing the tying run in a game the Mets simply had to win.
Yes, the Mets’ lead in the division has been trimmed to 5.5 games over the Braves but all the Mets can do is take care of their own business; they can’t control what Atlanta and Philadelphia have been doing. Give them credit for righting their ship, taking advantage of their schedules and making this a race in the division this season. For the Mets, despite the long and difficult schedule over the last ten days, they did what they needed to do against two of the best teams in the league and a floundering Angels club who had just fired their manager and have found almost every way in the book to lose over the last three weeks. The Mets unquestionably need better pitching, specifically from Bassitt and their bullpen (the Mets 3.88 team ERA is now 15th best in MLB) but both deGrom and Scherzer are on the right track for a return in the next few weeks and the lineup is intact once again.
The Mets still have a difficult road to the end of June with seven of the next 14 games against the Brewers and Astros, but the Braves are about to see their schedule stiffen as well with the Dodgers, Giants and resurgent Phillies looming at the end of the month. For the time being, holding on and treading water counts just as much as extending the lead in the division.
And as long as the Mets are in the drivers seat, they control their own destiny.
Down on the Farm 🌾
Dominic Smith (1B, Triple-A): 3-for-4, HR, 2 RBI
Francisco Álvarez (C, No. 1 prospect, Double-A) 1-for-4, HR, 2 runs scored
Brett Baty (3B, No. 2 prospect, Double-A): 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, 2 BB
Box Scores: Triple-A | Double-A | High-A | Single-A
Around the League 🚩
The Braves won their 11th straight game with a 5-3 victory over the Pirates
The Phillies winning streak finally came to an end with their 13-1 loss against the Diamondbacks
LHP Carlos Rodón had a good day on the mound for the Giants to help propel them to their first sweep over the Dodgers since 2016
Dodgers ace RHP Walker Buehler will be out 6-8 weeks with an elbow strain
The Yankees clobbered the Cubs in their 18-4 win - they are now 44-16 on the year and have an 8.5 game lead over the Blue Jays in the AL East
The Red Sox placed RHP Nathan Eovaldi on the injured list with lower back inflammation