Monday’s win against the Pittsburgh Pirates was about as complete of a team-win as the Mets could have asked for.
It had everything — defense, pitching, baserunning, coaching, all resulting in Pete Alonso‘s walk-off sacrifice fly to improve the team’s home record to 16-4 this season. Four of those wins have come in walk-off fashion.
Let’s start with the defense.
In the eighth inning, with New York having just taken a 3-2 lead, Brandon Nimmo made a leaping catch at the wall in left field to rob Joey Bart of a game-tying home run against Dedniel Nuñez. It was Nimmo’s second home-run robbing catch of the season as the outfielder has made a habit of thievery during his Mets career, especially at Citi Field.
“I knew that if I could get a really good jump on it I would have a great shot of catching it,” Nimmo said. “I think that relative comfort with your home field, it helps you to be able to go and make those plays.”
For how impressive Nimmo’s catch was, it wasn’t the only great defensive play New York made in the field. Brett Baty made a beautiful snag to his left at third base and threw the runner out at first to keep a run from scoring in the fifth and the Mets turned a pretty double play in the top of the ninth to end the inning and keep things tied.
What about pitching?
On a night facing off against one of the game’s best young pitchers in Paul Skenes, David Peterson matched him and went six terrific innings to keep New York in the game as the two starters were locked in a pitcher’s duel.
“I think it’s always fun when you go up against someone’s best and you get into a pitcher’s duel,” Peterson said. “It’s fun when you’re just trading blows like that and the offenses are grinding…
“In games like that it’s kind of a matter of us as the pitching staff holding it together where it is and giving the offense the opportunity to finally break through and be able to score enough runs to win the game.”
Speaking of the offense, that brings us to baserunning.
Down 2-1 entering the bottom of the seventh inning, the Mets got to work with the lower part of the lineup proving crucial. Pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor got on thanks to a hit-by-pitch and then stole second base. Luisangel Acuña followed with an infield hit, outhustling the pitcher to the first base bag on a grounder to the first baseman, to put runners on the corners.
After Taylor scored to tie the game on a groundout, Acuña also came around after the ball deflected off the Pirates’ third baseman’s glove on a single. Unaware at first of how far the ball had trickled away, Acuña was sent home by third base coach Mike Sarbaugh who read it all the way. Coaching? Check.
“I’m always trying to impact the game in my defense, in my baserunning and anything I can do,” Acuña said through an interpreter.
“His speed is electric,” added Alonso, whose single deflected off Ke’Bryan Hayes‘ glove. “He causes a ton of havoc on the base paths. He’s a burner and having that skillset is huge for us. Any time he’s on base he causes so much pressure on the defense.”
Even when things didn’t go as planned for New York, like Huascar Brazoban blowing the save opportunity in the ninth, the team still found a way to rebound almost immediately.
Francisco Lindor, after his error in the top half of the ninth led to the tying run to score, reached thanks to an error by the Pirates. But given just a little bit of leeway, the Mets have made teams pay this season which is what happened when Juan Soto singled to put runners on first and third before Alonso’s sacrifice fly won it.
“We don’t give up. We’re a scrappy bunch,” Alonso said. “Yeah we got guys who can drive the ball out of the yard, we got guys who can put up some good numbers offensively and hit the ball a long way and stuff like that, but at the end of the day our identity is we’re just a scrappy team. We fight til the last out and that’s just who we are.”
“I think we did a lot of good things today,” Mendoza added. “… As a whole, yes we’re a good team but we’re a good team not just because we’ve got good players, we’re going out there and we’re executing.”
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