Little Big Win

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Clay Holmes threw five solid innings and Mark Vientos had a big offensive night as the Mets beat the Mariners 7-3 in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 

The first sign that this game might go the Mets’ way came in the top of the first. After hitting Randy Arozarena with the first pitch of the game, Holmes managed to strike out the white hot Cal Raleigh, and then coaxed Julio Rodriguez to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. 

The second sign came in the bottom of the second, when the Mets hit George Kirby hard and often. Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil hit back-to-back singles. Francisco Alvarez 2.0 doubled to center on a ball that Julio Rodriguez just missed on a diving attempt. Brett Baty singled to center. Vientos smacked a sacrifice fly to deep center to make it 3-0 New York. 

The dreaded top of the fourth inning spelled some trouble. Rodriguez doubled, but Josh Naylor struck out looking and Eugenio Suárez grounded out to short. Jorge Polanco then hit a humpback liner that Francisco Lindor should have caught but didn’t, leading to J-Rod scoring. (Lindor would later blame his height for why he didn’t catch it. He was kind of kidding.) Holmes, who should have been out of the inning, suddenly unraveled, allowing a Dominic Canzone single to right and then walking JP Crawford. With the bases loaded and two out, Holmes threw three balls to start the at-bat against Cole Young. But he managed to pour in a strike, and then Young popped it up to Lindor in shallow left center to end the inning. Holmes was entrusted to pitch the fifth and rewarded his manager by tossing a 1-2-3 frame. He exited after that, having thrown 88 pitches. 

The Mets loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth but did not score, which was annoying, but they made up for it the next time they were up to bat. With one out, McNeil and Alvarez both singled. After Baty flew out to left, Swaggy V hit a three-run oppo taco on a night where the ball wasn’t carrying to seemingly put the game out of reach. The Mets added a seventh run when Cedric Mullins and Lindor smacked back-to-back doubles. 

Brooks Raley had the sixth. After getting the first two batters out, he allowed a double off the bat of Polanco before walking Canzone. Fortunately, Crawford softly lined out to Vientos at third. Reed Garrett tried to handle the seventh, but Cal Raleigh hit his inevitable 47th home run of the season off of him to make it 7-3. Ryan Helsley took the reins in the eighth. He struck out the first two batters he faced, walking Canzone, and got Crawford to ground out. It was by far his best inning of work as a Metro. He did it by throwing a lot of cutters/sliders and getting some help from the home plate ump. Because Edwin Díaz threw two innings on Saturday, Tyler Rogers handled the ninth. Rogers got two quick outs before Big Dumper and J-Rod both singled to put the tying run on deck. Josh Naylor let us all exhale when he grounded out to second to end the ballgame. 

It’s the first series win by the Mets in about three weeks. Needless to say, it’s a big deal. 

 ***

The victory might have been a pyrrhic one. Francisco Alvarez seemingly jammed his right thumb sliding into second base in the seventh inning. He’ll get an MRI in New York today. Prayers up. 

The little leaguers in the crowd demanded to see the Soto Shuffle, and Juan Soto repeatedly obliged. It was cute.

The whole day was fun to watch unfold. A handful of Mets went down the hill, including Nimmo, who was mic’d up for his sojourn. When Lindor asked Vientos if he fell off his cardboard cart, he replied, “No bro, I’m an athlete, come on.” Some Mets played wiffleball with one of the little league teams. Lindor and Alonso were interviewed during Little League World Series games during the afternoon, and Sean Manaea was in the “booth” during ESPN’s telecast of the actual game (where he was awfully cagey when asked to describe how they celebrated Nolan McLean’s first win.) ESPN’s graphics and bumper segments revealed some personal details about the Mets. Brett Baty said his favorite emoji is the red heart because “I'm texting my girlfriend a lot - I mean, my fiancé." Awww. Pete Alonso’s person he’d most like to meet was Jimi Hendrix. I have some bad news, Pete…

Francisco Lindor was picked off first/caught stealing, ending the Mets’ consecutive successful stolen base attempts at 39. Had they gotten one more, they would have tied the MLB record. Juan Soto later stole his 20th base of the year as he continues to add to his career season-high. 

The Mets strangely wore their alternate road jerseys with the ‘87 “New York” script when they flew in to Williamsport and spent the morning and early afternoon with the youths, but then wore their regular home pinstriped unis for the game. 

The Phillies and Reds won, so the Mets remain five back of Philly and up one and a half games on Cincy. Tonight, the Phillies begin a series at home against the Mariners, while the Reds start one with the Angels in California.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets (62-58) lost to the Rochester Red Wings (Nationals affiliate) by a score of 9-4. Justin Hagenman was absolutely tattooed. He gave up eight earned runs in just two thirds of an inning. 

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies (75-37) fell in 10 innings to the New Hampshire River Cats (Blue Jays affiliate) 3-2. Tylor Megill (right elbow sprain) had a tremendous rehab start. In a scoreless three and one third innings he permitted one lone hit, walked nobody and struck out nine. He threw 55 pitches, 39 of which for strikes.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones (66-48) won a wild 11-inning affair against the Hub City Spartanburgers (Rangers), eventually winning 6-5. Both teams scored four runs in the 10th. Trace Willhoite went 3 for 5 with a home run, a run scored, two RBI, and two strikeouts. Starter Will Watson permitted just one hit in four scoreless innings. He walked two and struck out six.

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets (67-46) came up short against the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins), losing 2-1. Starter Jose Guevara threw three scoreless, hitless innings. He walked two and struck out one. Lefty Daviel Hurtado was even better, tossing four scoreless frames, allowing three hits, walking one and fanning five.

The Mets get a day off before starting a series against the Nationals in DC. I much prefer Thursday off-days to Monday ones - at least on Thursday you can catch a minor league baseball game.