On an objectively sad day for the Mets, the team soldiered on for yet another win, beating St. Louis 7-6. Pete Alonso picked up closer Edwin Diaz, who blew a save in the ninth inning, by massacring the ball for a walk-off homer in the tenth. It was surely an incredibly cathartic moment for Alonso and all of the Mets’ diehards in attendance, whose collective roar both celebrated the win and let some of the anguish out in unison.
“To be able to walk it off is obviously electric,” Alonso said. “That gives us a lot of confidence moving forward.”
Earlier in the game, the Amazin’s learned Max Scherzer will miss six to eight weeks with an oblique strain. No matter, they still overcame the deflating news and Diaz’s debacle to beat a very good Cardinals team. That’s been the theme of the Mets’ season thus far. Even if it’s a rote sports cliche, the “everybody contributes” mentality is something that their manager preaches incessantly, knowing that it’s one of the most important qualities in a sport where hardships are inevitable.
“Guys are kind of wired that way,” Showalter said of his veteran-laden team. “When you’ve been through it so many times, whether it’s the coaching staff or everybody, it’s kind of a chance to shine rather than a chance to pull the dirt around you. It’s what you’re supposed to be good at.”
A single, a stolen base, a walk and another single did Diaz and the Mets in during the top of the ninth inning. Paul Goldschmidt’s weakly-hit grounder that tied the game with two outs carried an expected batting average of .190, according to Baseball-Savant. The ball left the bat at 61.9 miles per hour and traveled just 79 feet, but it moved so slowly and took third baseman Eduardo Escobar far enough to his left that he didn’t have a play.
By coming back to take it in the tenth, the Mets clinched the series, immediately bouncing back from their first series loss of the season, which came at the hands of the Seattle Mariners over the weekend.
Before the game, Showalter spoke about a manager’s need to dwell in the hypothetical, coming up with solutions for problems that don’t exist yet but could in the future.
He could not have foreseen Starling Marte going on the bereavement list earlier this week, causing an unexpected lineup shuffle. But on Thursday, with Marte still out, Mark Canha moved from his normal post in left field to cover Marte in right. Jeff McNeil shifted to left field, and Luis Guillorme played McNeil’s usual second base.
All Guillorme did was go 2-for-4 with a rally-igniting double and run scored in the pivotal fifth inning.
Another member of the Mets’ strikingly productive reserve group, catcher Tomas Nido, has been thrust into a greater role following James McCann’s hand surgery. Nido followed Guillorme’s double in the fifth with a divine sacrifice bunt, moving Guillorme into position to score on Brandon Nimmo’s ensuing RBI groundout that tied the game. McNeil dropped a two-run single later in the inning that landed just millimeters away from diving St. Louis center fielder Harrison Bader, giving the Mets a lead they would later relinquish.
McNeil’s defense in an unnatural position was also part of the reason for the Mets’ win. Trouble arose in the top of the sixth, the Mets up 5-3, Goldschmidt at the plate with Cardinals on the corners. Starting pitcher Chris Bassitt had just exited for Drew Smith, whose only previous meeting with Goldschmidt ended with the All-Star first baseman taking him deep. Goldschmidt just missed a second one, sending a skyward ball into foul territory deep down the left field line.
McNeil made an aptly squirrel-like jump into the wall to make the catch. While a run scored, McNeil was able to turn one out into two by firing to second base and getting Brendan Donovan, who had tagged up from first.
“He’s the Flying Squirrel for a reason,” Alonso said of McNeil, who has the locker right next to him in the Mets’ clubhouse.
In the eighth inning, McNeil did it again, this time with a sliding catch on a rapidly dropping fly ball from Dylan Carlson. If Carlson’s ball had fallen for a hit and gotten past McNeil’s slide, Juan Yepez probably would have gone first to third. Instead, with two outs and Yepez still on first, Albert Pujols’ 369-foot flyout ended the inning, rather than potentially being a game-tying sacrifice fly. Both Showalter and McNeil praised Long Beach State, where McNeil got plenty of outfield reps in his college days, for making him the versatile defensive weapon he is today. McNeil succinctly explained his approach to playing the outfield.
“If they hit the ball in the air, go catch it.”
The Flying Squirrel’s three RBI also set a season-high and helped support another solid outing by Bassitt. The Mets’ offseason trade for Bassitt looms even larger now as Scherzer joins Jacob deGrom on the injured list. On Thursday, Bassitt completed six innings for the sixth time in his eight starts. The unorthodox right-hander, whose velocity ranged from 68 miles per hour to 94, allowed four earned runs in his 6.1 innings of work.
The Mets’ support of Bassitt started early, as they scored in the first inning for the eighth time in their last nine games. Alonso continued making a compelling case to start his first All-Star Game by yet again beating the shift for an opposite-field RBI single. That was bookended by his herculean homer to win the game.
All of the Mets’ tallies were confined to the first, fifth and tenth innings, but like their bench guys and minor league call-ups that have helped the team start 26-14, it was enough to get the job done.
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