They Called Tyrone

Beehiiv informed me Gmail doesn’t allow gifs that are more than 1MB. The problem is pretty much all gifs are over 1MB? If the gifs don’t show up, click the “read online” option. 

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The Mets won a game they were trailing after eight innings for the first time since October 2024 as they shocked the Yankees 7-6 in 10 innings, taking the Subway Series and finally reaching the 20 win mark on the season, which looks a lot better today than it did yesterday.

It was not one of Freddy Peralta’s masterpieces, let’s put it that way. The Yankees began the scoring in the top of the third on a Ben Rice solo dinger to center field. It was the sixth time in six tries that the opposing team scored first in a Met game during the homestand. Like he did in the first frame, Peralta walked two batters, but got Ryan McMahon to roll over into a ground out to second to get out of the third. 

The Mets tied the game in the bottom of the fourth against the young righty Elmer Rodríguez. After a Juan Soto strike out, Mark Vientos singled to the opposite field - always a good sign. With two outs, Brett Baty hit a single up the middle, and Marcus Semien - who has quietly been good with runners in scoring position this year - brought in Swaggy V on a double to right. 

New York (NL) had a chance to take the lead in the fifth. Rodríguez beaned Carson Benge. He was taken out for the lefty Ryan Yarbrough one batter later. Soto grounded out to the pitcher for the second out. Vientos singled again, moving Benge to third. Tyrone Taylor came in to pinch hit for MJ Melendez. Taylor hit it hard, and the batted ball had a 68 percent hit probability, but Yankee center fielder Trent Grisham made a diving catch to keep the game knotted at one.

It seemingly all fell apart in the top of the sixth. Peralta walked his fifth and sixth batters of the day to start - that was enough for Carlos Mendoza. Sean Manaea entered the fray, even though it wasn’t a clean inning. Because of the way the bullpen was used Saturday night, Mendy’s only choices were Manaea, Joey Gerber, or Craig Kimbrel. He went with Manaea I’m assuming because he was the only lefty amongst the available triumvirate, and the Yankees had lefties coming up in the batting order. This forced Yankee manager Aaron Boone to empty his bench, and he was rewarded for this strategy. McMahon bunted Bellinger and Chisholm Jr. over to second and third. Pinch hitter Paul Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Anthony Volpe wasn’t walked for once. Unfortunately, he singled on the first pitch he saw instead, plating two. Another pinch hitter, old chum Amed Rosario, smacked a sacrifice fly to right to make it 4-1 Yankees. And then Grisham lofted a lazy fly to shallow left. The shortstop Bo Bichette backpedaled, and backpedaled, and backpedaled some more, and couldn’t make the catch as it clanked off his glove. Taylor, the left fielder, should have called him off. Alas, it was now 5-1, which a week ago would be an insurmountable lead.

The Mets cut the lead in half the following half inning. With one out, Semien singled and A.J. Ewing walked to get on base for the third time in three attempts. Boone then brought in the righty Jake Bird to face pinch hitter Luis Torrens. Torrens won that battle, stroking a double down the right field line to score a pair. 

The Yankees tacked on another run against Manaea. Bellinger and Chisholm hit back-to-back one out singles. Max Schuemann walked on four pitches to make the bases drunk with two out. After a mound visit by the pitching coach Justin Willard, Manaea walked Volpe on six pitches to force in the sixth Yankee run. Volpe walked seven times this series. Seven! The beleaguered youth hitting .222 who famously likes swinging at the first pitch. Seven!

To Manaea’s credit, he faced the minimum in the eighth and ninth, saving the bullpen. 

Heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Mets were 0-91 since Pete Alonso’s home run off of Devin Williams in the 2024 Wild Card Series when trailing after eight innings. Facing Yankee closer David Bednar, Benge fisted a 2-2 offering into center. Bo Bichette, 0 for his last 15, followed with a clean single up the middle to make Juan Soto the potential tying run. Soto though reached on a fielder’s choice when he grounded the ball to the first baseman Rice. Vientos then tried to play heroball and chased three straight pitches out of the zone to strike out. On strike three, Soto stole second. Down to their last out, Tyrone Taylor strode to the dish. 

Taylor would later say a combination of hitting coach Jeff Albert’s advice and his own viewing of how Bednar sequenced his pitches against his teammates led to him figuring Bednar would start him off with a curve. Maybe. But take a look at Soto, who just stole second base, leaning to his left to take a not so subtle peek at Bednar’s grip right before throwing the ball.

Soto likely sent a signal to Taylor, just like Geraldo Perdomo blatantly did against Clay Holmes last Saturday in Arizona. 

In any event, Bednar totally hung a curve and Taylor crushed it. The only question was whether or not it would stay fair.

It stayed fair. Tie game. 

Devin Williams faced his old team in the top of the tenth. Fortunate for him and the Mets, the Yankees had their 7-8-9 hitters due up. Williams struck out Schuemann, who did a poor job pretending to be bunt. Volpe walked, of course, but Austin Wells grounded into a 3-6-3 double play thanks to some nice work by established first baseman Mark Vientos. 

Got to love the emotion out of Swaggy V and Devin Dub. 

In the bottom half of the tenth, Semien was the Manfred Man at second, and southpaw Tim Hill was on the bump. Ewing sacrificed Semien over to third. The Yankees formed a five-man infield. Torrens was hit by a pitch. Up came Benge, who started the ninth inning rally. Benge hit a topper over Hill’s head that Schuemann attempted to field and throw home. Sadly for him, he bumped into one of his teammates instead. 

Your classic walk-off RBI fielder’s choice. Put it in the books. The Mets go 5-1 on their homestand and in the A.J. Ewing era. They’re 10-5 in the month of May. They’re now just six under .500. Watch out, world. 

The Mets had lost 131 straight games when trailing by 3+ runs in the 9th inning or later going into yesterday’s game. The last time they did that was May 17, 2023 against the Rays - exactly three years to the day of Taylor’s heroics. Bruh. 

It was the first Mets win when trailing in the 9th inning since Pete Alonso homered off of Devin Williams in the 2024 playoffs. Yesterday’s winning pitcher was…Devin Williams.

Freddy Peralta threw 52 balls and just 44 strikes. It’s amazing he lasted five plus innings.

Like me, you were probably wondering what happened to Howie Rose after the fifth inning or so Saturday night on the radio broadcast. It turns out Howie was invited to the season finale of Saturday Night Live and its afterparty, where he finally got to meet Sir Paul McCartney. It was only for ten seconds or so, but that was on top of Howie’s bucket list, so good for him.

Steve Gelbs left during the game yesterday because his son had a bad fall. He’s fine now. In fact, the first thing his son asked when Gelbs walked into the emergency room was, “Did the Mets win?” 

Carlos Mendoza admitted that Jorge Polanco’s Achilles bursitis ain’t going away this season, so the plan is to get him to a point where he can play through it. He’ll join the team on this upcoming road trip, but this is quickly becoming too Jed Lowrie coded to my liking.

In more positive injury news, Clay Holmes (fractured fibula) spoke for the first time since he suffered his big ouchie. He said surgery isn’t entirely off the table because he might need a stabilizing plate in his leg. "But I don't think that's going to be the case," Holmes claimed. Then an anvil fell on his head.

Holmes also provided his side of the story over his budding friendship with Luke Weaver. "I think Weav likes to chase, so I'll keep dangling it over his head, “ Holmes joked(?) 

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets lost the finale of the Triple-A Subway Series to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders (Yankees affiliate) 5-3. RHP Jack Wenninger had control issues - only 28 of his 61 pitches were for strikes. He was pulled after two and a third innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits while walking four and striking out one. RHP Ryan “The Eggman” Lambert struck out the side in a perfect frame. LHP Anderson Severino, who confused some beat writers by his presence in the Mets locker room the other day, tossed a hitless inning of his own. CF Nick Morabito tripled. 3B Yonny Hernández went 2 for 4 with two RBI. 

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies handled the Somerset Patriots (Yankees) 10-7. 3B Jacob Reimer had A Day. He went 3 for 3 with a home run and two doubles, two runs scored, four RBI, a walk, and a stolen base. C Vincent Perozo and CF Jose Ramos also went deep. RHP Brendan Girton did not have a good start, permitting six earned runs in four innings of work. RHP Ben Simon allowed one hit and struck out two in the 9th inning to earn his second save of the year.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones fell to the Rome Emperors (Atlanta) 3-1. LF John Bay had the Cyclones’ only extra base hit, a double. RHP Brady Miller allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits in five innings. He didn’t walk a soul and punched out four. 

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets beat the Jupiter Hammerheads (Marlins) 3-1. RF AJ Salgado went 2 for 4 with two doubles, a run scored, and an RBI. The rehabbing 1B Jared Young (meniscus) went 0 for 2 with a walk. LHP Nicolas Carreno got the win. His final line: 5 IP 2H 1 R 0 ER 3 BB 5 K. Carreno lowered his ERA to 1.93. 

Tonight the Mets begin a road trip and a series with the pesky Washington Nationals. RHP Christian Scott (0-0, 3.45 ERA 4.27 xFIP) will chuck the pearl for New York (NL). RHP Jake Irvin (1-4, 5.91 ERA 4.49 xFIP) will toe the rubber for the Nats. First pitch is scheduled for 6:45 pm eastern. The game will air on SNY and Audacy Radio 880 AM with Keith Raad and Pat McCarthy.