If you like a traditional offense of get ’em on, get ’em over, and get ’em in, this was not the game for you. The Mets were 1-5 with RISP making them much better than a Pirates team that was 1-12.
That one hit wasn’t much of a hit either. In the fourth, Elias Diaz followed a one out Jordy Mercer double with an “infield single.” It really should have been an error as Wilmer Flores charged the ball and had it go underneath his glove. With that being the one hit, you already know the Pirates did not capitalize on the opportunity.
In fact, they let Robert Gsellman off the hook. After a 1-2-3 first, Gsellman allowed base runners in all six innings he appeared.
The only rally they cashed in on was a third inning rally where the Pirates started the inning with back-to-back singled to set up first and third. Gregory Polanco hit an RBI groundout to plate a run.
The only other run the Pirates would score off Gsellman was a Josh Bell second inning homer.
The Pirates did have a golden opportunity in the sixth. Despite his having thrown 96 pitches heading into the sixth, Terry Collins went with Gsellman to start the inning. The Pirates put runners on first and second with one out, and Gsellman was up to 109 pitches. Collins then went to Fernando Salas.
Salas came on and struck out yesterday’s hero Elias Diaz, and got Jose Osuna to fly out to end the inning and preserve the Mets 4-2 lead.
With the Mets similarly struggling with runners in scoring position, they had to turn to the home run to win this game.
The Mets got an early 2-0 lead as Neil Walker hit a two run first inning home run off Pirates starter Tyler Glasnow. After the Pirates tied the score at 2-2, Jay Bruce hit a solo homer to make it 3-2 Mets in the third. Wilmer Flores then hit a fourth inning homer to make it 4-2. That’s where the score stayed besides both teams having a number of chances.
In the sixth, the Mets had first and third no outs off Pirates reliever Johnny Barbato. Flores and Rene Rivera strikeouts book ended. Curtis Granderson popping out to center.
In the sixth, seventh, and eighth, the Pirates hand two on, and they would not score a runner. Jerry Blevins and Addison Reed made the pitches they needed, and they preserved the lead.
For his part, Reed was double switched into the game in the eighth and was entasked with the six out save. Prior to this, he had never recorded a four out save.
Reed buckled down and did it. It wasn’t uneasy, but he got the job done. The Mets did as well. It was a good win, and the Mets needed to build off of this win.
Game Notes: Asdrubal Cabrera made his eighth error of the season thereby surpassing his error total from last year. Jose Reyes took over for him in the eighth when Reed was double switched into the game.
Now, I was not at the ballpark when it happened, and like most people, I first became aware of it when it was posted on Twitter. But like everyone else, I was surprised to see Mr. Met flipping everyone off. You know who wasn’t surprised? The people sitting in the section as they were ready with their phones:
@Mets ??? pic.twitter.com/tYuSIp8gCG
— Tony T (@tonyt3535) June 1, 2017
Unless you are a little kid, why are you filming Mr. Met heading into the tunnel? It makes no sense unless you are waiting for Mr. Met to flip you off. The most likely scenario was Mr. Met was being heckled to a certain degree, and everyone was waiting for the reaction. Much to their delight, they got that reaction . . . on film.
Now, the person who took the video claims there was no provocation. In a New York Post article by Adam Rubin, the person who took the video said, “I just asked for a high-five. Nothing provoked it.” While he might not have been the provocateur, someone in the area must have been because it is hard to believe a professional mascot flips over a request for a high five. One thing I do find suspicious about the take is if you re-watch the video, you don’t hear anyone asking for a high five. All you see is the mascot flipping the bird. This is either a conspicuously cropped video, or terrific timing.
In fact, in a Zach Braziller’s New York Post article paints a much different picture. A fan in the area, who was also a friend of Mr. Met said, “Mr. Met was being heckled all night from those fans, and security spoke to the fans about it after Mr. Met’s handler spoke up. I do know that the fans were cursing at Mr. Met with the F-word and saying derogatory things about Mr. Met’s mom …. which led to the gesture because of a personal matter with his mom.”
Basically, people were there antagonizing a mascot. To what end, who knows? If reports are true, they’re awful people who could have potentially played a part in that person losing their job. Instead of getting talked to by security, they should have been removed from the game. There’s not place for badgering someone and cursing at someone until they snap. There’s fun and games, and there’s crossing a line. Clearly, people went well over the line.
Sure, the person playing Mr. Met deserved whatever discipline was coming their way. He has to be better than that especially knowing people are always armed with their phones. More than that, he’s there mostly to entertain children. You have to be better than that. You’re a professional. Fortunately for him, he was reassigned instead of fired leaving someone else to take play the part.
Hopefully, whoever that person is now, they get treated better by fans. At the very least, hopefully that person has a longer fuse.
There was a time Gerrit Cole against Matt Harvey would be an anticipated pitcher’s duel. Not tonight. Maybe not ever again. Instead, it was a facing off of sluggers. Lucas Duda for the Mets, and Elias Diaz for the Pirates?
Because Francisco Cervelli was sick, he was removed from the lineup, and Diaz was put into the starting lineup. Diaz had only played in nine games over three years, so naturally, he was 2-3 with a double, homer, and six RBI. He absolutely killed the Mets.
Still, this was a ballgame at one point. A slugfest, but a ballgame nevertheless.
In the first, Harvey loaded the bases with no outs. He somehow wriggled out of it allowing just the one run. While he was unable to put anyone away, he reached back and was able to strike out both Josh Bell and Andrew McCutchen to get out of the inning.
From there, it appeared Harvey had settled in a bit. For a while, it even looked like he’d get the victory in this game.
This was mostly thanks to Duda who launched two huge homers. The first shot in the second inning nearly took down the Shea Bridge and gave the Mets a 2-1 lead:
DUDA HOME RUN!!! 2-1 Mets! pic.twitter.com/vdwMiOFadD
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 2, 2017
Harvey then ran into trouble in the fourth. Once again, he would load the bases with no outs. This time, he wasn’t so lucky. Diaz would hit a pitch over the middle of the plate for a bases loaded triple. This snapped an 0-26 steak opponents had against Harvey with runners in scoring position.
Despite these struggles, Harvey would be in position to win this game.
After Harvey failed to get down his second sacrifice bunt of the night, Michael Conforto hit an opposite field homer to tie the score at 4-4.
After a Jay Bruce walk, Gregory Polanco played a Neil Walker hit into an RBI triple. Walker then scored on a Duda home run that went way up the Pepsi Porch capping off a five run inning and giving the Mets a 7-4 lead.
At this point, the Mets offense was rolling, and it appeared the game was in-hand. Harvey made quick work of the Pirates in the fifth, and he took the mound in the sixth. That’s where the game changed.
Bell led off the inning with a home run, and McCutchen followed with a walk. Terry Collins then double switched Paul Sewald into the game. Coming into the game, Sewald was arguably the Mets best reliever with a 2.21 ERA. He’d leave the game with a 4.35 ERA.
The Pirates just went to work on Sewald. Diaz hit a three run homer off of him. After getting tattooed left and right, he eventually reloaded the bases and walked in a run. Before Collins went it to get him, he faced eight batters get to g just one out. His final line in the loss was 0.1 innings, five hits, five runs, five earned, one walk, and one strikeout.
Sewald was bailed out by Neil Ramirez, who was probably the Mets best pitcher of the night. He worked 2.2 innings allowing just a home run to Josh Harrison to make it 12-7.
In addition to Diaz, Harrison killed the Mets. He was 3-4 with two runs, a double, homer, and two RBI. He also made a nice diving catch robbing Conforto of a single.
Really, the key difference in this game was when the managers pulled their starters. Harvey went too long, and it led to the Pirates game winning rally. The Pirates pulled Cole, and he got the victory despite allowing seven runs in five innings.
This was just the latest in inexplicably and inexcusable losses for this team.
Game Recap: Curtis Granderson recorded his 1,600 hit with a second inning single. Travis d’Arnaud was 2-3 with a walk. He’s now 6-12 this year against the Pirates. Wilmer Flores has supplanted Jose Reyes as the starting third baseman.
No one should expect a manager to publicly criticize his players. We also shouldn’t exactly anticipate a manager will be 100% honest in his responses. Still, there are times when a manager gives answers to honest questions, and he reveals part of himself. When Terry Collins does this, the answers are downright scary.
Zach Braziller of the New York Post posited a question to Collins if the Mets would platoon Jay Bruce, Michael Conforto, and Curtis Granderson when Yoenis Cespedes returns. Collins’ answer to the question was he thought Conforto is tiring. This is a nonsense.
In the Month of May, Conforto hit .314/.426/.627 with nine doubles, a triple, seven homers, and 21 RBI. Over the last two weeks, he is hitting .333/.472/.643. But sure, he’s the one who’s tiring. Not Bruce who is hitting .210/.296/.430 with seven doubles, five homers, and 19 RBI in May. Over the last two weeks, Bruce is hitting .214/.300/.429.
There is a world of acceptable answers to this question including Terry’s favorite, “You hit, you play.” Maybe he’s abandoned it because he really doesn’t follow the mantra especially when he’s batting Jose Reyes second and Bruce third in the lineup. Speaking of Reyes, Collins had a doozy of an answer about Reyes:
TC on Reyes role in #mets offense in May: "It helps that Jose swung better, getting on base." May numbers: .216/.280/.330. .610 OPS.
— Zach Braziller (@NYPost_Brazille) June 1, 2017
Seriously, how can anyone have anything positive to say about Reyes’ play this season? He’s been a bad baseball player. Among the everyday players, Reyes has the worst batting average, OBP, slugging, OPS+, wRC+, and WAR. You name it, and he’s bad at it. About the only thing you can say about Reyes is he leads the Mets in stolen bases with six. Despite all of this, Reyes bats second in the lineup instead of playing the Eric Young, Jr. role as a pinch runner.
Given his managerial decisions, Collins’ answers have given insight into what he really believes to be true. Somehow he believes Conforto is the player who is tired, and Reyes is getting on base. It really makes you question if he’s actually watching the games.
With the way the Mets season has been progressing, it appears Michael Conforto will be the team’s lone All Star. If he is, it will be the 21st time in the Mets 55 year history they have had just one All Star. Can you name the Mets players who were named as the team’s lone All Star? Good luck!
Richie Ashburn Duke Snider Ron Hunt Ed Kranepool Tom Seaver John Stearns Pat Zachry Joel Youngblood Jesse Orosco David Cone Bobby Bonilla Bret Saberhagen Mike Piazza Armando Benitez Daniel Murphy Jacob deGrom
Mets games have just become the theater of the absurd. Noah Syndergaard refuses an MRI and then leaves his next start with a torn lat. Matt Harvey doesn’t show up to every game. Kevin Plawecki apparently is kinkier than we think. Mr. Met is walking through Citi Field flipping off the fans. Today? Well, for the Mets, it was more of the same.
In the fourth, the Brewers got a rally going on a couple of base hits including a Jonathan Villar single that deflected off Zack Wheeler. After a Nick Franklin RBI single, the Brewers had a 2-0 lead and runners on first and second. Brewers pitcher Chase Anderson squared to bunt and popped it up in front of home plate. Travis d’Arnaud went to let it drop in the hopes of starting a double play. Instead, he hesitated after picking the ball up, and he couldn’t get an out. In a normal baseball game, this would be a fairly event filled inning. Not the Mets.
Eric Sogard would pop up in fair ground in what should have been the second out in the inning. Instead the ball boy ran directly into Wilmer Flores‘ arm causing him to drop the ball:
Milwaukee batboy bet the Brewers to beat the Mets today. pic.twitter.com/RQYTYWzUWG
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) June 1, 2017
Same old Mets. Fortunately, Wheeler settled down, and he was able to induce Sogard to hit into the inning ending double play. It was one of three double plays the Brewers would hit into on the day. The double plays would allow Wheeler to go deep into the game. He would throw 102 pitches over 6.1 innings allowing 1o hits, two runs, two earned, and one walk with six strikeouts. He departed the game down 2-0 with a runner left on second base.
Jerry Blevins got the job done getting Sogard to ground out by striking Eric Thames out.
Unfortunately, it didn’t matter as the Mets offense did nothing against the Brewers starter for the second straight game. Lucas Duda (2-3) and d’Arnaud (1-2) were the entirety of the Mets offense on the day. To be shut down yesterday by Junior Guerra is one thing. Getting shut down today by Anderson is another.
While the Mets offense was inept, the pitching was doing its job. That includes the bullpen. After Blevins bailed out Wheeler, he got into some trouble of his own in the eighth leaving runners on first and second with no outs. Fernando Salas came on and he got the Mets out of the jam striking out three batters.
In the eighth, the Brewers went to Jacob Barnes. On the first pitch he threw, Flores launched a home run to deep left field to cut the score to 2-1. Unfortunately, it was not the start of a comeback, but rather a single flare that went unheeded by the rest of the Mets offense leading to a 2-1 loss. Case in point, Reyes and Jay Bruce took back-to-back strikeouts looking to start the ninth against Brewers closer Corey Knebel.
This was an extremely winnable game, and the Mets let it slip through their fingers. For a team fighting just to get back to .500, they can’t keep doing this. It’s losses like this that have put them in this position, and it is losses like this that will sink their season.
Game Notes: Asdrubal Cabrera got the day off, and Jose Reyes moved from third to shortstop for the day game.
Let’s be honest. With nearly two months gone in the season, there is not a lot of reason to believe in the 2017 Mets. The team is five games under .500 and just 14-16 against their own division. Important players like Yoenis Cespedes, Jeurys Familia, Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard and David Wright have had extended stints on the disabled list. Presumably, Familia, Syndergaard, and Wright are done for the season. The team features two everyday players who are fighting to get and stay atop the Mendoza Line, and the entire pitching staff has underperformed. And despite all of these problems, and many more which have not been mentioned, there are very real reasons to be optimistic about the Mets as we head into the summer months:
1. The Starting Pitching Is Improving
In case, you haven’t noticed the Mets are no longer have the worst ERA in all of baseball. A huge reason for that is the starting pitching is not only improving, but they are also pitching deeper into games. That has started with the re-emergence of Jacob deGrom. Before last night’s debacle, in his last two starts, deGrom pitched 15.1 innings allowing just one earned run. He threw down the gauntlet, and the other starting pitchers have responded.
The Mets are now starting to put together quality starts with some regularity. Matt Harvey and Robert Gsellman are coming off their best starts in over a month. Zack Wheeler continues to pregress well in his first season in over two years. Matz and Seth Lugo will soon join the rotation. As we have seen time and again, this team goes as its pitching goes, and the pitching is trending in the right direction.
2. The Bullpen Is Settling Down
With the starters failing to go deep into games and Familia essentially being a non-factor this season, the bullpen has struggled. The struggles stem from both overwork and trying to slot guys into different roles than had previously been anticipated. With the starters going deeper, the bullpen is starting to get some rest, and the bullpen is starting to look better.
Another factor is the emergence of Paul Sewald. A player the Mets were willing to risk losing in the Rule 5 Draft has now become the Mets most important reliever. He has been used for multiple innings and to nail down the eighth inning. He has shown his success in Vegas was no fluke pitching to a 2.21 ERA in 20.1 innings. His emergence has allowed Terry Collins to ease up on some of his other relievers.Salas has responded by lowering his ERA by almost two runs in the month of May, has not blown one lead, and he has not allowed an earned run in 11 of his last 14 appearances. A rejuvenated Salas is good for the Mets.
Another key factor is the composition of the bullpen. Rafael Montero is gone. Neil Ramirez is on his way out as well. He should be gone once Hansel Robles figures things out in Vegas and/or Gsellman is moved to the bullpen with the return of Matz and Lugo from the disabled list. Certainly, the composition of arms is going to be much better down there, and with the starters going deeper, they will be better rested.
3. Help Is On The Way
As noted, Matz and Lugo will soon rejoin the rotation. Behind them, we may also see Robles return to the majors prompting the Mets to send down one of the more ineffective arms in Ramirez and/or Josh Smoker. But it’s not just on the pitching side that the Mets will improve, it’s also on the offensive side.
According to various reports, Cespedes is about 7-1o days away. When he returns, the Mets will be adding an MVP caliber player to play alongside Michael Conforto in the outfield, who is having an MVP caliber season himself. Cespedes not only lengthens the lineup, but he also adds a right-handed power threat which the lineup is sorely lacking right now. While the offense isn’t the issue so far, a team that is fighting to not only get back to .500, but also to get back to the postseason needs to upgrade everywhere it can.
It’s more than Cespedes. At some point, the moving target that is the Super Two deadline is going to comfortably pass clearing yet another hurdle for the Mets to call-up Amed Rosario. If Rosario does get called-up, it would significantly improve the Mets infield defense, and it could also improve the lineup. Through his first 50 games, Rosario is hitting .354/.393/.519 with 13 doubles, three triples, five homers, and 37 RBI.
With all that, there is legitimate reason for hope the Mets will be a better team over the final four months of the season. That team could catch the Nationals in the standings especially when you consider the two teams have 13 games against one another remaining. That is enough games to make-up the 9.5 game gap between the teams in the standings. That goes double when you consider the Nationals have bullpen issues of their own, and they are just 15-12 since losing Adam Eaton for the season.
If the Mets play as well as they can play, this is going to be an exciting summer at Citi Field. If the Mets play the way they are capable, this will soon become a pennant race.
Jacob deGrom started the game issuing a lead-off walk to Eric Sogard, and then he allowed a two run home run to Eric Thames. That start was a good indication as to where this game was headed.
This was arguably the worst start of deGrom’s career. He needed 105 pitches to get through four innings. His final line was four innings, eight hits, seven runs, seven earned, five walks, and six strikeouts. He probably wasn’t even that good.
On the other side, Junior Guerra was dealing. About the only good that Mets position players were able to do was some nice diving catches by Michael Conforto and Lucas Duda:
? Lucas Duda flashing the leather. #LGM pic.twitter.com/20LsLaYfsS
— New York Mets (@Mets) May 31, 2017
The real highlight of the game for the Mets was Josh Edgin. He came on in the fifth, and he saved the bullpen pitching three scoreless innings. It’s the type of outing that really gets overlooked during the course of the season, especially with Gary, Keith, and Ron talking Caramel M&Ms with Keith throwing the M&Ms to the camera crew. Still, Edgin’s outing is an important one.
It was also important because it gave the Mets a chance. They’d load the bases in the seventh with one out. Jay Bruce then grounded into the inning ending 4-6-3 double play. It was a close play at first worthy of a challenge except Terry Collins ran out of time thus ending the Mets only chance to get back into the game.
The shut out was broken up after Conforto followed a Juan Lagares hit a two out infield single with a Conforto RBI double.
From there, the Mets brought in Neil Ramirez, and the guys in the booth broke out the baseball cards. Honestly, there’s not much else you can expect in a 7-1 loss. It was even too much for Mr. Met to take:
https://twitter.com/adelucia35/status/870092668084375552
Game Notes: Curtis Granderson was 2-3 which finally brings his batting average over the Mendoza Line at .201. Mets pitching walked eight batters. The Mets are now 3-11 when they walk six plus batters.
It doesn’t matter what position you are voting. If you are looking to elect a president, dog catcher, or an outfielder to the All Star Game, when you are solely relying upon write-in votes, you have a steep uphill climb to accomplish your goal. With the first round of voting results being published by MLB, we see Michael Conforto is going to fall far short of being elected one of the All Star Game starters:
Even if Conforto was one vote behind Carlos Gonzalez, that still puts him 226,223 votes behind Jason Heyward for the third spot in the National League All Star outfield. Even if Conforto were to get a head of steam in the voting, it is unlikely he gets elected because Cubs fans coming off their first World Series in their lifetimes have been stuffing the ballot box. Right now, the lowest any Cubs player is in All Star Game voting is fifth. That honor goes to Kyle Schwarber who is hitting .173/.294/.339 on the season. Right above him is World Series MVP Ben Zobrist. Long story short, a Cubs outfielder will likely start the All Star Game.
They will start the All Star Game despite Conforto being far superior to the three Cubs outfielders. Arguably, Conforto is the second best outfielder in the National League behind just Bryce Harper. Still, he has no shot to start the All Star Game, absent Joe Maddon making him the DH, because he was not put on the All Star Game ballot when it was first released. In fact, Conforto’s name is still not on the ballot. Why?
Back in the days when ballots were printed and put in ballparks, this was understandable. There’s a finite amount of room on a paper ballot, and you are not going to undergo the cost of revising ballots after they have already been printed and put in 30 MLB ballparks. However, MLB no longer prints paper ballots. It’s all digital meaning the same constraints you have with paper ballots are presumably not present.
Even if there are some unforeseen issues with updating the ballots mid-vote, there is a legitimate question over why Conforto’s name was not on the ballot the minute it was released. Conforto made the Opening Day roster. As such, his playing in the first half of the season was not in as much doubt as say an Amed Rosario who began the season in Las Vegas. Given how players get injured, why couldn’t MLB put every player who made the Opening Day roster on the ballot?
If Conforto was on there from day one, he might have had a chance to overtake one of the Cubs outfielders to start in the All Star Game. The fans could have rewarded him for his terrific start to the season by voting for him. However, his name wasn’t there, and for many voters he was out of sight out of mind when the ballots were cast. It is something that could have been rectified by having all palyers who made the Opening Day roster on the ballot.
There’s really no downside to this unless MLB is overly concerned with players like Chase d’Arnaud being elected starters. Of course, this exact scenario happened to the NHL with John Scott. Of course, the end result of that was increased attention to the sport, increased rating for the All Star Game, and a feel good story. If MLB still has this concern, maybe they should take the vote away from the fans.
It wouldn’t be a huge stretch from where they are now when MLB doesn’t even list players like Conforto on the ballot.
In the Matrix, Morpheus said to Neo, “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
Apparently, Tyler Pill is the blue pill because there were a number of strange things that happened at Citi Field that only the most ardent Mets fans could believe:
Jose Reyes started over a red hot Wilmer Flores. More than that, Zack Davies appeared to strike him out looking. Instead, the home plate umpire called it a call leading to a Reyes bases loaded walk.
Travis d’Arnaud threw out last year’s stolen base leader Jonathan Villar:
Thing of beauty! pic.twitter.com/biPntHLwZq
— GENY Mets Report (@genymets) May 31, 2017
Jerry Blevins allowed an inherited runner to score.
Fernando Salas not only got an at-bat, but he also got a hit.
More than that, Pill only allowed one run over 5.1 innings.
Despite Pill having a minor league 1.60 ERA this year, his peripherals indicated his ERA should be over 4.00. Long story short, Pill has been extremely lucky this year. While that luck escaped him in his major league debut, he brought it with him today.
Starting with his warm-ups, Pill was in trouble all night. He hit Keon Broxton, who was the very first batter he faced. He’d be the only one to score against Pill after a Travis Shaw double.
From there, Pill had no 1-2-3 innings. He somehow stranded seven batters including Eric Thames, who tripled to lead-off the fifth thanks to some poor Jay Bruce defense (that was believable).
Through of all this, the Mets had a 4-1 lead scoring twice in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Curtis Granderson and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a pair of doubles to tie the game at one. The Mets would then load the bases, and Reyes drew the aforementioned bases loaded walk.
Neil Walker hit a lead-off double off Brewers reliever Eric Sogard, and he would score on a Lucas Duda homer:
This left Pill on the long side on a night despite allowing six hits, three walks, and a hit batter over 5.1 innings. Despite all of this, he wouldn’t get the win.
He didn’t get the win because in the seventh inning the unthinkable happened. Yes, it was easy to believe Salas would walk two to help load the bases with one out. It’s easier to believe that happened when you consider he was running the bases in the top half of the inning.
Blevins came on, and it appeared he did what he had to do. He struck out Shaw looking. While he did issue a bases loaded walk to Domingo Santana to make it 4-2, he did get Jett Bandy to pop up to short.
That’s when the unthinkable happened. The sure-handed Cabrera Luis Castilloed it:
https://twitter.com/therendermlb/status/869733991867445248
Thankfully, Santana was not hustling like Mark Teixeira did meaning the Brewers merely tied the score on the play instead of potentially going up 5-4.
The bullpen did its job. Josh Edgin and Addison Reed each pitched a scoreless inning, and Josh Smoker pitched three scoreless. Smoker got into a jam, but he got a huge strikeout to get out of the 10th. We then saw one of his signature celebrations:
What the hell kind of celebration is that @Josh_Smoker? lol pic.twitter.com/NgFZnKdlmI
— MetsKevin11 (@MetsKevin11) May 31, 2017
What’s interesting is Terry Collins had the opportunity to double switch both Reed and Smoker into the game to possibly get an extra inning out of them. He passed both times.
Finally, the Mets got something started in the 12th. T.J. Rivera led off with a pinch hit single off Wily Peralta, and Conforo walked. After Reyes couldn’t get a bunt down, he hit a fielder’s choice with Thames getting Conforto at second. The Mets finally won it with a Bruce single against the drawn-in shifted infield.
A long bizarre game finally came to an end with the Mets winning a game they have typically lost all year. The final score indicates Mets fans really took the blue pill.
Game Notes: Walker’s two doubles on the night gave him 1,000 hits for his career. Mets are 3-10 when they walked six or more. They walked eight.