An afternoon after a failed comeback attempt, the Mets played a crisp game behind one of their young studs and won the series against the Padres, 6-1.
After a truly hellacious start last time out, the Jonah Tong we’ve been promised was back today. In the first, Tong gave up back to back one-out singles to Luis Arraez and Manny Machado, but Machado was thrown out at second base by Brandon Nimmo trying to stretch a single into a double. A strikeout to Jackson Merrill ended the top of the frame.
The Mets
got on the board quickly, with Pete Alonso hitting his 37th home run of the season to put the Mets up 1-0. In the second, neither team would move a runner past first base, and both Tong and Padres starter Randy Vásquez punching out two batters.
The third was where Tong hit his only real rough spot of the day. Fernando Tatis Jr. singled to start the frame, and then took second on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt and took third on a wild pitch by Tong. Tatis would score on a sacrifice fly by Arraez to knot the game up at one apiece.
The Mets didn’t let the tie last very long. Cedric Mullins and Francisco Lindor led off the inning with back to back singles. Tatis fielded the ball and threw to third, but not in time, allowing both runners to advance. A Juan Soto groundout scored Mullins and moved Lindor to third. Alonso walked to put men on the corners with one out. That would be it for Vásquez, who was pulled in favor of left-handed Wandy Peralta. Nimmo greeted him rudely, hitting a three-run dinger to put the Mets up 5-1.
With a nice lead, Tong really settled in. He struck out four of his last six batters and didn’t allow another baserunner. All told, Tong went five innings, allowing one run on four hits with no walks and eight strikeouts for his second big league win.
The Mets would extend their lead in the seventh, when Alonso would drive in his 121st of the year with a sacrifice fly to score Lindor and give the Mets a five-run cushion.
Tyler Rogers, Brooks Raley, and Gregory Soto took care of the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings. Neither Rogers nor Raley allowed a baserunner, and if not for Soto having two balls deflected by Soto, he wouldn’t have all three would’ve had perfect innings.
Edwin Díaz hadn’t pitched since Sunday, so he took the ball in the ninth. Two strikeouts and a weak pop up ended the Padres’ day, and allowed the Mets their first series win since the Tigers’ series to start September. At the close of game play today, the Mets remain two games up in the loss column on all three teams-Diamondbacks, Reds, and Giants-chasing them.
Tomorrow, the Mets welcome the Nationals for the last regular season home series of the year. Brandon Sproat takes the ball for the Mets with Andrew Alvarez starting for Washington.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
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Big Mets winner: Brandon Nimmo, +15.2% WPA
Big Mets loser: None
Mets pitchers: +16.7% WPA
Mets hitters: +33.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Brandon Nimmo’s three-run homer, +16.0% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jonah Tong’s wild pitch, – 8.5% WPA
