Tyrone Taylor is a winning player.
The veteran outfielder finds a way to make his mark for the Mets night in and night out.
Sunday it was with his arm — he ranged over into right-center in the top of the first and made a terrific throw to the plate, gunning down the speedy Mookie Betts trying to score on a potential Will Smith sacrifice fly.
Then on Monday, he came through with his bat.
With the game tied at one apiece, Taylor dug in, leading off the top of the ninth against White Sox reliever Steven Wilson. And with the count evened at 2-2, he crushed a high fly ball into the left-center gap.
Speedy CF Luis Robert Jr. ranged back and attempted to make a terrific sliding grab on the warning track, but the ball dropped in off of his glove and Taylor ended up at second base with a leadoff double.
“It was a good pitch,” Taylor said. “I was just trying to be on time for a fastball up close to me and I was able to put a good swing on the sweeper — I was probably staring at it in the air too long, but I’m glad it dropped in.”
The Mets certainly had to be glad, too, as Jeff McNeil was intentionally walked and Luis Torrens laced a single to load the bases before Francisco Lindor lifted a first pitch walk-off sacrifice fly to deep right.
Lindor’s third walk-off of the season will be what’s remembered the most from the thrilling come-from-behind victory, but that wouldn’t have been possible without Taylor’s hustle and big knock to get things started.
The 31-year-old has been more known for his glove to this point in his career, but he’s been excellent for the Mets on both sides of the ball of late.
With the offense struggling to get back into a groove, he’s provided a much-needed spark at the bottom of the order — hitting .286 with a .366 OBP in May and recording hits in eight of his last nine appearances.
“I see a guy that has a lot of confidence [right now],” Lindor said. “I see a guy that feels like he can hit every pitch, a guy that gives good at-bats every single day — he’s been doing this for a long time, but this year the first couple days of the year it seemed things weren’t going his way.
“All of a sudden now he’s picking it up. He lengthens the lineup. He’s making the bottom of the lineup look really good, so I’m proud of him with the work he puts in day in and day out. He goes out there and gives everything he’s got.”
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