Torrens-ial Downpour

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A timely hit by Luis Torrens, the game of Jared Young’s life, and a solid Kodai Senga start helped give the Mets a 5-2 win over the San Francisco Giants. 

Logan Webb was on the mound for the Giants, which is usually bad news for the Mets (and most other teams). However, New York (NL) got to the bowling ball sinker practitioner in the second inning. Luis Robert Jr. smoked a single up the middle to start. Jared Young, only in the lineup because Brett Baty was a late scratch, got a base hit to left, moving Robert to second. Then the scolding hot Mark Vientos singled to left center, plating Robert to give the Mets an early 1-0 lead.

Webb would put up zeroes after that, but so did Senga. For the first five innings, Senga didn’t throw as hard as he did in his previous start because he was pitching on just four days rest, but that didn’t seem to matter very much. At one point he struck out five consecutive batters on either the ghost fork or the four-seamer. He also got a lot of help from the left fielder Young, who, and I cannot stress this enough, was not in the original starting lineup for the Mets. With one out in the third, Patrick Bailey was robbed on a diving catch by Young. More impressive was the play Young made in the fifth, throwing a perfect one-hop strike from the left field wall to second base to nab a greedy Jerar Encarnacion.

The G Men got to Senga in the sixth as his velocity dipped a little further and he got unlucky. Bailey reached on a bloop single to lead things off. The next two batters flew out, but Bailey stole second. With the runner in scoring position, Matt Chapman took a ghost fork and smacked it down the left field line, tying the game. Rafael Devers followed with a bloop hit of his own, scoring Chappy. Just like that, it was 2-1 San Francisco. The season was over all over again.

The Mets threatened in the seventh, Webb’s last inning, but didn’t convert. With the bases loaded and two out, Francisco Lindor grounded out to second. In the two games without Juan Soto this weekend, he went 0 for 10. 

Unfortunately for the Giants, Webb couldn’t go the full nine, and the Mets took advantage of their leaky bullpen. With one out in the eighth against Keaton Winn, Jorge Polanco and his balky Achilles miraculously legged out a double to right. Pinch runner Tyrone Taylor advanced to third on another Robert single. Then Young was due up. The Giants decided to bring in a lefty, Erik Miller. Carlos Mendoza countered with pinch hitting Young, who was 3 for 3 with a double, with Luis Torrens. I was skeptical of the move to say the least, forgetting Torrens is a weirdly good pinch hitter. During the at-bat, Robert stole second. He took a rather circuitous route, but he made it.

Sure enough, Torrens is now hitting .352 lifetime as a substitute hitter, as he doubled off an outside 3-2 changeup. It scored Taylor and Robert to put the Mets on top.

Vientos came up to bat next. He hit a grounder that Chapman made a great diving stop on, but he committed a throwing error trying to finish the play, which scored Torrens and moved Swaggy V to second. Marcus Semien followed with a ringing double to left, easily bringing in Vientos. And just like that it was 5-2. 

Luke Weaver pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth. Devin Williams had a rougher ninth. Matt Chapman led off with a single to left. He then inexplicably attempted to steal a base, down three in the bottom of the ninth, against Luis F. Torrens. Torrens of course gunned him down, leading Gary Cohen to exclaim, “WHY WOULD YOU RUN ON THIS CAT?!” Good question. Devers grounded out to second for the second out. Heliot Ramos kept things moderately interesting with a single, but Jung Hoo Lee came up to the dish next not as the potential tying run, thanks to Chappy’s bonehead mistake. Williams struck out Lee to cap off the fun weekend. 

The Mets have now won three in a row and are 6-4. The boys have earned a day off.

Giants rookie manager Tony Vitello got tossed for the first time in his MLB career in the 7th inning after Jerar Encarnacion was called out for interfering with the first baseman Mark Vientos, causing him to drop the ball. It took five or six replays until I agreed with the call - Encarnacion clearly ran into the grass when busting it down the line to first, impeding Vientos’ opportunity to make the catch without potentially breaking his arm.

Vientos went 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored yesterday. He’s currently hitting .476. Feel free to fill out this form:

Brett Baty was a late scratch to the lineup because he jammed his left thumb sliding into second base on Saturday night. Initially, he was supposed to play right and bat fifth with Carson Benge at left and Jared Young on the bench. It was implied that he would be available to pinch hit if need be, so he should probably be okay. Probably.

No news on Juan Soto. They’ll re-evaluate him today and go from there.

The Triple-A Syracuse Mets defeated the Toledo Mud Hens (Tigers affiliate) 4-3, thanks to a walk-off two-run homer by Jackson Cluff. Cluff went 3 for 4 with the aforementioned homer and a double. Carl Edwards Jr. got a no-decision in a quality start, allowing just one earned run in five innings of work. He walked two and punched out five. Ryan “The Eggman” Lambert needed just eight pitches to get through the 8th inning, where he didn’t allow a hit and struck out a batter.

The Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies game against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) was rained out. They’ll play it at a later date TBD.

The High-A Brooklyn Cyclones game against the Hudson Valley Renegades (Yankees) was also postponed due to rain. 

The Low-A St. Lucie Mets had a scheduled day off. 

On this day in 2015, the oldest Opening Day starter in franchise history, 41-year-old Bartolo Colón, allowed one run over six innings. Lucas Duda ended Max Scherzer’s no-hit bid in the sixth with a two-run single. Buddy Carlyle secured the victory with his first career save.

On this day in 2004, Kazuo Matsui hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the major leagues.

Today is an off day for the Mets and all of their minor league affiliates. Enjoy UConn-Michigan?