Every great baseball team knows it takes a “next man up” mentality to get through the 162-game season. On Friday night, a future star sat in the Great American Ballpark visitors’ clubhouse, waiting for its moment to shine: Edwin Díaz’s backup cleats. When the cleats entered the 5-4 game, the Reds had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning; minutes later, the cleats were gracing the first base bag to record the final out of the Mets’ most nerve-wracking win of the season.
It wasn’t always supposed to be this way. Earlier in the evening, the Mets appeared to be cruising to a clean win in Cincinnati. The offense got off to a scalding start, scoring three runs in the top of the first on three singles, a walk, and a Brandon Nimmo sacrifice fly that would have been a home run if not for a breathtaking robbery by center fielder TJ Friedl. In the top of the third, Mark Vientos scorched a solo home run to right-center field, and in the top of the fourth, a pair of two-out doubles from Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto gave the Mets their fifth run of the game.
Meanwhile, David Peterson needed just 16 pitches to get his first six outs — all of them via ground ball. It was shaping up to be a return to form for Peterson after his disastrous outing Sunday afternoon against Miami, in which he allowed a career-high seven earned runs.
But Peterson began to falter. In the bottom of the third, Friedl foiled Nimmo again by drilling a ball past the sliding left fielder for a one-out double, setting up a Noelvi Marte sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the fourth, Tyler Stephenson lined a double down the left field line to plate Austin Hays and Spencer Steer. Hands continued to prove a problem for the newly returned Francisco Alvarez, only this time not his own, as Steer’s fingers barely snuck under the catcher’s glove on a close play upheld after review. Ke’Bryan Hayes then drove in Stephenson on a sacrifice fly to pull the Reds one run away and leave the Mets clinging to a seemingly fragile 5-4 lead.
In the following innings, both teams threatened but couldn’t poke through. With a man on in the fifth, Jeff McNeil blooped a 28.5 mph flare which sent Reds starter Andrew Abbott tumbling off the mound in an unsuccessful attempt to catch it. Abbott was promptly relieved for Conor Phillips, who got Alvarez to fly out for the third out. Phillips created and evaded trouble in the sixth, walking Lindor and Soto but getting Pete Alonso to ground into his second double play of the game (the Polar Bear would end up leaving eight men on base in a rough night at the plate). The Reds chased Peterson out of the game in the bottom of the sixth, but Ryne Stanek struck out Matt McLain with the bases loaded to prevent Cincinnati from capitalizing.
New York put two men on with two out in the eighth, with Acuña singling and stealing a base and Lindor walking to reach base for the fifth time in five plate appearances, but Soto grounded out to strand the pair. Brooks Raley and Tyler Rogers turned in scoreless innings, with Ryan Helsley being avoided amidst his struggles.
The Mets’ 5-4 lead had somehow survived, paving the way for Edwin Díaz to enter in the ninth with a save in his sights. Díaz allowed a leadoff single to Hayes before completely losing the strike zone, walking McLain and Friedl to load the bases with nobody out. With a 3-2 count, Díaz got Marte to bite on an inside slider that would have been ball four and tied the game. Díaz got ahead 1-2 on the Reds’ best hitter, Elly De La Cruz, seeming to regain momentum. That’s when he called for help from the Mets’ dugout, later telling Steve Gelbs on SNY that he felt he was slipping off the mound. Díaz swapped out his troublesome cleats for a new pair on the diamond, providing a contrasting dash of little-league lightheartedness amidst the frighteningly high-pressure scenario. Unfazed, Díaz got De La Cruz looking at a 99.5 mph fastball down the middle for the second out.
Gavin Lux represented the Reds’ last chance. With a 2-1 count, Lux chopped a ball to the right of a diving Pete Alonso, where Luisangel Acuña — making his first start since July 21 — made a terrific stumbling grab. When Acuña gathered himself to fire the ball to first, Díaz was in perfect position to catch it, having bolted off the mound slip-free. Díaz threw a remarkable 15 pitches with the tying-run 90 feet away; but in the end, the only thing that got tied in the ninth inning were his new laces.
It was the Mets’ first one-run win on the road since July 26 in San Francisco, and it dropped the Reds to 6.0 games behind the Mets in the N.L. Wild Card standings. The Reds will next contend with one of the Mets’ young arms, with Jonah Tong making his second big league start on Saturday night against Brady Singer. But for all that’s been said about the Mets’ pitching depth this season, perhaps it’s their cleat depth that we should be paying more attention to.
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Box scores
Win Probability Added
Big Mets winner: Edwin Díaz, 21.9% WPA
Big Mets loser: Pete Alonso, -21.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: +51.5% WPA
Mets hitters: -01.5% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto’s first-inning single, +08.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: TJ Friedl’s ninth-inning walk, -21.2% WPA
