The New York Mets escape in extra innings against the Philadelphia Phillies 6-5 in a game where the Mets seemed they needed to win before heading into the weekend.
The scoring started early as Pete Alonso hit a rocket to center field for his 10th home run of the season to put the Mets up 1-0. The very next inning Brett Baty would knock in Starling Marte for an RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0 as the game went scoreless until the 6th inning.
The biggest concern for the starting rotation has been the walks. Jose Quintana was able to strike out four giving up no runs the first five innings of the game with no walks. Quintana would find trouble in the bottom of the 6th giving up three consecutive hits and was immediately pulled after Harper loaded the bases with an infield single. Alec Bohm would single to left off of Reed Garrett to cut the lead in half and Nick Castellanos would hit a sacrifice fly to tie the ballgame at 2-2.
Jose Quintana Line:
5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K.
In the bottom of the 7th the Phillies would take the lead off of Garrett from a Kyle Schwarber double that scored Bryson Stott to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
The Mets would answer the next half of the inning from a line drive up the middle from Harrison Bader to tie the game. Bader has found himself in key moments this year and he has capitalized in times the Mets needed it most. Alonso would score on a wild pitch by Jeff Hoffman to take the lead in the 8th.
Fast forwarding to the bottom of the 9th Edwin Diaz came into the game for the save and was not able to get the job done. Diaz would walk Brandon Marsh to lead off the inning and Bryson Stott, who homered off Diaz in game one of the series, singled to right to tie the game. Diaz has now blown his third save in the last four opportunities.
After the game Diaz had this to say regarding his performance tonight; “I feel really good. I just gotta find a way to get that last out and get the W”. Their could be a number of different reasons why Diaz has struggled so far this year, but the main two that come to mind have to be no Francisco Alvarez and the pitch clock. Diaz likes to work fast, but he has not yet pitched in a season with the new pitch clock rule due to his injury last year.
Both teams would go scoreless in the 10th inning, and the Mets would get off to a quick start in the 11th thanks to a leadoff RBI single from J.D. Martinez to score Lindor to make it a 5-4 ballgame. Bader would follow with a double to put to make it second and third with no outs. With Marte and Vientos going down swinging it came down to Jeff McNeil to give the Mets insurance, but Jose Alvarado would throw a fastball in the dirt that got past Realmuto to score Martinez to make it a 6-4 game.
Jake Diekman would come in the bottom of the 11th and found trouble from a Pete Alonso error to make it first and third with with one out. Bryson Stott would hit a ground ball into a fielders choice that scored Castellanos, but followed with a strikeout to Kyle Schwarber to end the game.
The Mets now head to Miami to face the Marlins for a three game series with Christian Scott getting the start tomorrow in front of his family and friends. With a 20-23 record the Mets are now a half a game back for the third wild card spot with the two best pitchers in the rotation pitching the next two games.