The Mets won possibly their best game of the season, overcoming a 6-2 deficit across the final four innings to beat the Rangers by a score of 7-6. Pete Alonso notched the game-winning hit in the top of the ninth to put the Mets ahead, and Edwin Díaz nailed it down in the ninth.
The Rangers bats were cold coming into the night, but Luis Severino could not keep them at bay tonight. Severino got tagged for six runs over 6.1 IP, highlighted by a five-run drubbing in the fifth inning in which he served up two homers, including the first out-of-the-park home run of Wyatt Langford’s career.
Severino was better in the other 5.1 innings he pitched, but still struggled to miss bats. He struck out only one on the night and surrendered 8 hits and a walk. This was probably the worst Severino looked since his nightmarish first start in April against the Brewers.
Before that fifth inning, though, Severino was working with the lead. The Mets broke first against Michael Lorenzen in the second on a Mark Vientos solo shot, his sixth of the year and one of his three hits on the night, as he continues to be a force offensively.
The Rangers tied it in the third, but the Mets went back out in front on an RBI groundout by Harrison Bader in the top of the fifth.
The roof may have caved in on Severino after that, but the Mets bats went right back to work. Brandon Nimmo got them a run closer with a solo homer in the sixth to cut it to 6-3, and the Mets added another run on a defensive lapse by Corey Seager in the seventh, though they could’ve had more. They stranded two more runners on base when Nimmo struck out to end the inning against Former Met David Robertson.
Severino and Jake Diekman were able to keep the Rangers off the board in the seventh, which allowed the Mets another chance against their old friend Robertson, who was back on for the 8th trying to get three more outs.
With one out, singles by Pete Alonso and Starling Marte got the Mets in business. Vientos then struck out, which brought up Francisco Alvarez, who caught Robertson for much of last season, to the plate with a chance to do some damage with two outs. The 22-year-old catcher fell down 0-2 to the 41-year-old reliever, but worked the count back full, and then got a cutter over the plate that he drove into the left-center field gap for a game-tying, two-run double.
It was the biggest hit of Alvarez’s season, and it chased Robertson from the game. After some managerial machinations which somehow wound up with Jose Iglesias being intentionally walked and Tyrone Taylor pinch hitting for DJ Stewart, the Mets stranded two more runners on when Taylor tapped out to the pitcher.
Reed Garrett handled a scoreless bottom half, which set it up for the top of the order again in the ninth for the Mets, who had scored in four straight innings before that. A one-out walk by Nimmo brought up J.D. Martinez, who checked a swing on a 1-1 pitch, but his bat nicked the glove of the catcher Jonah Heim. It wasn’t called at first, but the Mets challenged and it was confirmed: catcher’s interference, setting the Mets up with two runners on for Pete Alonso.
And Alonso came through. He ripped a ball over the third base bag and down the line to score Nimmo from second and give the Mets the 7-6 lead.
The Mets once again would wind up stranding two more runners on base—they stranded eight all game and went just 2-for-12 with RISP, which emphasizes just how hot this offense is that they still scored seven runs despite that.
Díaz came on for the ninth protecting a one-run lead. He allowed a leadoff bloop single to Jonah Heim, which probably gave Mets fans flashbacks of his recent blowups, but the Grimace Mets are built different. Díaz almost immediately induced a huge ground ball double play by Ezequiel Duran to erase Heim, and then got Leody Tavares to fly out to secure the save and the Mets’ seventh straight victory.
The dramatic win provides some happy feelings on an incredibly sad day for baseball and American sports in general, as we lost Willie Mays tonight at the age of 93. The Hall-of-Famer spent two seasons with the Mets in 1972 and 1973 after an iconic career as a member of the New York and San Francisco Giants. Mays is one of the most impactful athletes in the history of American sports, but is also one of the titans of New York sports history, which is why his number 24 is retired in perpetuity by the Mets.
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:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25497296/chart.png "The Grimace Mets live on as Mets make dramatic comeback (1)")
What’s WPA?
Big Mets winner: Francisco Alvarez, +46.7% WPA
Big Mets loser: Luis Severino, -36.1% WPA
Mets pitchers: -2.6% WPA
Mets hitters: +52.7% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Francisco Alvarez hits a game-tying RBI double in the eighth inning,+33.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Josh Smith hits a three-run homer in the fifth inning, -21.8% WPA
