The Mets defeated the Washington Nationals 2-1 in 10 innings in dramatic fashion at Citi Field on Monday night, breaking the mini-losing streak at two games.
It was the 11th walk-off win of the season for New York. The Mets moved one game ahead of the Atlanta Braves, who lost on Monday, for the final NL wild-card spot.
Here are the key takeaways…
– The Mets scored the winning run with the help of the free runner on second in the bottom of the 10th, as Harrison Bader pinch-ran for Mark Vientos. Francisco Alvarez moved Bader to third with a long fly out to right field and then Starling Marte, who had pinch-hit Eddy Alvarez in the eighth inning, won the game with a line-drive single down the left field line off Jacob Barnes, as Bader scored without a play.
– Jose Iglesias’ single off reliever Derek Law’s glove tied the game in the eighth after the Mets had been shut out for the first seven. His hit scored Tyrone Taylor, who had doubled down the left field line to lead off the inning, and moved to third on Francisco Alvarez’s slow ground ball to third.
The Mets got outstanding relief pitching, as Jose Butto, Edwin Diaz, and Reed Garrett each delivered scoreless innings in the eighth, ninth, and 10th respectively.
Diaz bounced back from his game-losing ninth inning on Sunday, working a scoreless top of the ninth. With the go-ahead run on third base, he struck out lefty-hitting Jose Tena swinging at a 91-mph slider.
– Sean Manaea delivered another brilliant start. He gave up four hits and one run over seven innings, with six strikeouts and one walk.
Manaea has gone at least 6.2 innings in his last seven starts, the longest such streak in the majors. Most remarkably he hasn’t allowed more than four hits in any of his last six starts.
The left-hander has turned into a true power-pitcher since adopting the Chris Sale sidearm delivery, but the only run he gave up in this game came on two off-speed mistake pitches. He hung an 85 mph change-up that Juan Yepez hit hard for a double to the left-center gap, and then left a 79-mph sweeper in the middle of the plate against lefty-hitting Jose Tena, who slapped it to the opposite field for an RBI single.
– Even with the win the Mets obviously miss Francisco Lindor, who is out with a back injury. The team was relieved that Monday’s MRI showed no structural damage, with Lindor saying he should be back in a few games, depending how his back responds to treatment.
They’ve scored only three runs in their last 24 innings.
On Monday night Jake Irvin held them to one run over 7.2 innings, allowing four hits, three of them singles.
The Mets knew Irvin could be tough. He one-hit them over eight innings in Washington on July 4 in a game the Nationals won 1-0 on a Jesse Winker home run.
Five days later the Mets scored six runs in six innings against Irvin to beat the Nationals 7-5.
– The Mets had a golden opportunity in the fourth. With runners at first and second, Brandon Nimmo got ahead 2-0 in count, then was too quick on next two swings, twice pulling balls deep into the right field seats but foul.
After Nimmo walked to load the bases, Vientos topped a slow roller down the third-base line. It looked like a sure hit but Irvin made a great play to get to the ball quickly then throw accurately to first to get him by a full step. Vientos, who is slow, got tied up by the swing and didn’t get of the box well.
The ground-out and then two more outs in his next at-bats extended Vientos’ slump to 3-for-34 over his last 11 games.
– Francisco Alvarez threw out Tena stealing second in the fourth inning, notable because the Nationals are one of the most prolific stolen-base teams of all time.
Coming into the game they had a total of 209 steals this season, the most by any team since the Montreal Expos in 1993.
Also, as a team in flux that has brought up a bunch of young players, the Nats have had 23 different players steal a base, the most in MLB and most since the 1917 Pittsburgh Pirates.
The throw-out made the Mets catcher 14-for-64 in caught-stealings, raising his average to just above league-average 21 percent.
Highlights
Who was the game MVP? Starling Marte
The veteran smoked a line drive down the left field line to score Bader in the bottom of the 10th and win the game, playing for the first time since he took a fastball off of his forearm in Saturday’s game.
Upcoming Schedule
The Mets and Nats face off again on Tuesday night in Flushing for another 7:10 p.m. first pitch.
Right-hander Tylor Megill (4.48 ERA and 1.316 WHIP in 62.1 innings) climbs the hill for his 14th appearance on the year for New York. He’s coming off his best start of the year, one hit over 6.0 scoreless innings in Toronto with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Left-hander Mitchell Parker (4.24 ERA and 1.272 WHIP in 142.1 innings) is due to start for Washington for the 28th time. The rookie had a 3.44 ERA in his first 16 outings but has pitched to a 5.68 ERA over his last 11 starts since July 13.
Source Agencies
