The Mets finally won! Barely, of course...

New York split Thursday's double header with Detroit, and why the win in game two felt more meaningful than a routine April victory

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️

• The Mets split their Thursday doubleheader with the Tigers, earning a much needed first victory of 2024 in game two. They lost game one by a score of 6-3 but squeaked out a walk-off 2-1 win in game 2 (Game one Box) (Game two box)

• Starters Adrian Houser and Jose Butto combined to surrender only two runs over 11 innings in the twin bill

• The Mets held a 3-0 lead in game one, but a Riley Greene homer against Adam Ottavino in the 8th set the stage for Detroit to win in extras

• Trailing 1-0 in the 9th inning of game two, Pete Alonso homered to tie the game and three batters later Tyrone Taylor delivered a walk-off hit down the left field line

• The Alonso home run represented a milestone for the Mets’ first baseman, as he became the fastest in club history to reach 500 RBI

• Reed Garrett played the role of unsung hero in game two, tossing three innings of scoreless relief to earn the win

• JD Martínez will soon head to a minor league affiliate for competitive at-bats. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said its likely Martínez will make his debut with the Mets during the club’s series with the Braves next week

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Roster Moves 🗞️

• RHP Yohan Ramirez was activated from his suspension

• RHP Phil Bickford signed to a minor league contract

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Down on the Farm 🌾

• RHP Christian Scott (No. 5 Prospect) struck out nine in four innings in his 2024 debut

• Mark Vientos went 2-5 with 3 RBI in Syracuse’s 5-4 win over Scranton Wilkes-Barre

Box Scores: Triple-A

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Pete Alonso… 📚

• Became the 10th Met ever to reach 500 RBI

• Became the third player in MLB history to record 194 home runs and 500 RBI inside their first 690 career games, joining Ralph Kiner and Ryan Howard (Brownstein)

• Hit his third career game-tying home run in the ninth inning on Thursday

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Today’s Game 🗓

Match-up: Mets (1-5) @ Reds (4-2)

Where: Great American Ballpark — Cincinnati, OH

Starters: LHP Jose Quintana (0-1, 3.86 ERA) vs. RHP Hunter Greene (0-0, 3.86 ERA)

When: 6:40 PM EDT

Where to Watch: SNY

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When is a win more than just a win… ✍️

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s get this out of the way quickly. The first two series of the Mets 2024 season have been an unmitigated disaster.

Over the course of this first week we’ve seen instances of poor starting pitching, defensive miscues, and disappointing relief pitching—problems that have all taken a backseat to the club’s consistent offensive struggles.

Next to nothing has gone right for the Mets, but even though it wasn’t pretty, I thought their comeback win in game two of Thursday’s doubleheader was important.

Starting the game at 0-5, energy in both the Citi Field stands and the Mets dugout was nonexistent. There weren’t that many people there to begin with. When the Tigers quickly took an early 1-0 lead—thanks of course via an RBI hit from enigmatic ex-Met Javy Baez—whatever air was left in the stadium’s balloon seemed to evaporate.

The anemic Mets offense failed to collect a single hit through the game’s first seven innings, and for most of the game this looked destined to go down as one of most pathetic and least competitive offensive efforts I’d ever seen on its way to yet another joint no-hitter in MLB’s history.

Harrison Bader lofted a leadoff single in the eighth inning to finally break the ice and prevent that indignity from coming to pass, and while the Mets moved him to second base via a sacrifice, they were unable to advance him any further.

José Buttó and Reed Garrett more than held up their end of the bargain on the mound, teaming up to limit the Tigers to just the one run on five hits in their cumulative nine innings of work, but it looked like it was frustratingly not going to be enough.

Until the Mets’ most prolific power hitter changed everything with a single swing.

Leading off the bottom of the ninth, Pete Alonso deposited an 0-1 pitch from his former college teammate Alex Faedo over the left field fence to tie the game and light a spark in the Mets dugout. Suddenly the bench was energized and momentum quickly began to build.

By the way, Alonso hit that homer on a pitch just a foot off the ground. Amazing!

Following the Alonso home run Brett Baty worked an excellent at-bat that ended in a walk that put the winning run on base. After Baty advanced to 2nd on a sacrifice bunt by Starling Marte, up to the plate stepped new Mets’ outfielder Tyrone Taylor. The Mets hottest hitter, Francisco Alvarez was in the deck circle, and Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was undoubtedly thinking ahead and planning to walk the Mets catcher with two outs and first base open if the situation played out that way.

Taylor had other ideas.

After working a full count, Faedo hung him a slider that Taylor ripped down the left field line to plate Baty and give the Mets a desperately needed 2-1 win.

Now, one good inning does not erase what was just a woeful opening homestand.

But I felt like this team simply needed a win no matter what it looked like, to stop the bleeding and infuse some semblance of positivity. Must wins don’t usually occur until August or September, but for these Mets right now, this was definitely a must win.

As the Mets get set to head to Cincinnati and start their first road trip of the season, let’s hope that they could find a way to build on Thursday’s nightcap.

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Around the League 🚩

• The Marlins let a 4-1 lead over the Cardinals get away, and dropped to an MLB worst 0-8

• Kansas City scored eight runs in the 7th inning—highlighted by an MJ Melendez home run—and crushed the White Sox 10-1

• Connor Joe and Rowdy Tellez each drove in two runs in Pittsburgh’s 7-4 win over the Nats

• Tanner Bibee fired 5.1 strong innings and earned the win in Cleveland’s 4-2 victory over the Twins