The Mets are coming off an August that was, without hyperbole, the best offensive month in franchise history
. The fact that the team went 11-17 in that month tells you everything about how the pitching staff has performed. It’s been a pretty consistent story: the starting pitchers have been beaten around and unable to go deep into games, and the bullpen has been overworked and unable to hold onto small leads.So to the surprise of nobody, the Mets once again scored a bunch of runs this afternoon.
They once again got an ineffective and inefficient performance from a starting pitcher. But for today, at least, the bullpen—while not perfect—was good enough to hold onto the lead the bats gave them, and the team rebounded from losing three out of four to the Marlins by taking the first game in the series against the Detroit Tigers.
The Mets faced off against former Braves foe Charlie Morton today. They got the first two baserunners on against him in the first inning but failed to score thanks in large part to a double play off the bat of Pete Alonso. Sean Manaea then took the mound and quickly got tagged for a run, as Jahmai Jones socked a leadoff homer to left to give Detroit an early 1-0 lead. Not exactly what the Mets wanted to see from Manaea to start, given his recent struggles.
But the Amazins quickly rebounded against Morton in the top of the second. They once again got the first two batters of the inning on base thanks to a hit-by-pitch to Mark Vientos and a single from Jeff McNeil. The two runners were moved over to second and third on a sacrifice bunt from Cedric Mullins. Perhaps a questionable decision with the eight and nine hitters coming up, but Luis Torrens rewarded the Mets for their faith by pulling a double to left field to score the two runners and give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Manaea held that lead for the bottom of the second but gave it up in the third. After Gleybe Torres worked a one-out walk, Wenceel Pérez hit the Tigers’ second no-doubter home run, this one a two-run shot to put Detroit up 3-2.
So the Mets’ bats had work to do once more against Morton. McNeil led off the top of the fourth against him with a double, his second hit of the day. Mullins walked to put two runners on, and Torrens then blooped a ball into right field to load the bases with nobody out. But Morton then bore down and struck out both Brett Baty and Francisco Lindor, and he then got ahead 0-2 on Juan Soto. Given the struggles with runners in scoring position that the $765 million man has endured this year, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Mets were about to blow a premium scoring opportunity. But Soto instead flipped the script and lifted a 1-2 pitch over the right field wall for a grand slam—the very first of his career, and the first home run with more than one runner on all season for him. That blast ended Morton’s day at just 3 2/3 innings, and he left with the Mets winning 6-3.
But Manaea would soon be joining Morton in making an early exit after he took the mound for the bottom of the fourth and got knocked around again. After striking out the first batter of the frame, he surrendered a one-out single to Dillon Dingler, and Zach McKinstry followed that by slamming a ball into the right field corner. He’d make it all the way to third on the play, and Dingler scored to cut the lead to two. Manaea then recorded another strikeout for the second out of the inning, but it would end up being the last out he’d record today. Jones lined a single to right for his second hit and RBI of the day, making it 6-5 Mets. Another single from Torres brought Carlos Mendoza out of the dugout to pull Manaea after yet another disappointing outing (3.2 innings, 8 hits, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts, 5 runs). Gregory Soto came on and threw one pitch to get the final out of the inning, preserving both Manaea’s ERA and the one-run lead.
That lead would be soon be fully gone, though. After the Mets went down 1-2-3 in the top of the fifth, Soto came back on for the bottom of the frame. Two singles with a strikeout in-between put runners on first and third with one out, and Mendoza replaced Soto on the mound with Ryne Stanek to try to get out of the jam. Alas, the second pitch he threw was too high for Torrens to handle behind the plate, and it went to the backstop to score the runner from third to tie the game at 6-6.
But the Mets once again responded after getting punched in the mouth. Tigers lefty reliever Drew Sommers—who had finished off the top of the fifth for Detroit—came back on for the sixth inning. Torrens led off the frame with his second straight bloop single to right (and his third overall hit of the game), and after Baty softly grounded out to first to move the runner to second, Lindor was hit in the foot by a pitch to put two runners on with one out. Juan Soto—after getting the big hit earlier in the game—then stepped up to the plate and came through yet again, hitting a ground ball along the first base line into the right field corner. Torrens and Lindor both scored to make it 8-6 Mets, and Soto made it all the way to third for a triple and his second extra-base hit of the afternoon. The Tigers then removed Sommers from the game and brought in Troy Melton, but the Amazins weren’t quite done scoring just yet. Pete Alonso struck out for the second out of the inning, but Brandon Nimmo then hit a ground ball to the left side that was deflected by third baseman Andy Ibáñez into left field to score Soto from third and make it 9-6.
Of course, given how this game had gone—and how the Mets’ pitching staff in general has performed in recent times—a three-run lead with three and a half innings left to play hardly qualified as comfortable. Taylor Rogers came on in the bottom of the sixth and quickly gave up a leadoff bunt single to start things off. Thankfully, some good defense ensured that this leadoff runner didn’t blossom into yet another Tigers rally. Torres hit a soft groundball to the right side that McNeil was able to catch up and then overcome a double clutch to record the out at first base. Pérez then blooped a ball into center that looked like it would land and score the runner on second, but Mullins made a terrific diving catch on the ball to record out number two. And Rogers then got Spencer Torkelson looking at strike three to end the inning with the three-run lead fully intact.
And the Mets would then add another insurance run thanks in part to some help from the Tigers defense. McNeil led off the inning by grounding a ball to second that got by Torres for an error to put a runner on first. Luisangel Acuña—back up with the Mets following September roster expansion—pinch ran and subsequently stole second, and Mullins then walked to put two speedy runners on-base. Torrens then bunted the runners over to try to make sure the Mets would get at least some amount of insurance. With runners on second and third and one out, Baty then hit a hard ground ball that Torres was able to make a diving play on at second, but he had no choice but to just get the out at first, allowing Acuña to score from third and making it 10-6. Sadly, Lindor followed that with yet another hard groundball at an infielder to end the inning with just the one extra run.
Still, the one insurance run was helpful, given that the struggling Ryan Helsley came on for the bottom of the seventh, and he quickly gave the Tigers that run back. As has been par for course with Helsley, opposing batters were not fooled in the slightest with him, as Riley Greene hit the first pitch he saw from him down the line for a leadoff double. Pinch hitter Colt Keith then hit the first pitch he saw hard as well, but this one right at Mullins in center field. Helsley then recorded a groundout for the second out of the inning, but McKinstrey then hit the first pitch he saw into right field to score Greene from second and make it 10-7, and Mendoza decided that he had seen enough of Helsley after just five pitches. Brooks Raley came on to get the final out of the inning, but the lead was once again down to three with two innings still to go.
Raley came back on for the bottom of the eighth and allowed the Tigers to inch a bit closer. Jones led off the inning with a double, and then productive outs (a fly ball to left that was deep enough for Jones to tag and go to third, then a ground ball to third base that brought him home) made it 10-8. There were then two outs and nobody on, but Mendoza decided he wasn’t going to take any chances, and he brought in Edwin Díaz to go for the four-out save. He did give up some loud contact in his outing, but overall it was a much-needed drama free outing from the closer, who got the last out in the eighth and then, following a scoreless inning from the Mets in the top of the ninth, came back on and recorded a 1-2-3 frame to end the ballgame and give the Amazins a much-needed win.
It was certainly nice to see the offense continue to hit—particularly the six RBIs from Soto. The bullpen was worked hard but managed to limit the damage to three runs in 5 1/3 innings. Manaea, on the other hand, was once again not good enough, and like Kodai Senga, the Mets will need to decide what to do about that. But for now, they celebrate the victory, and now we get to look forward to seeing rookie phenom Nolan McLean once again tomorrow night.
SB Nation GameThreads
Box scores
Win Probability Added
FanGraphs" />
Big Mets winner: Juan Soto, +65.3% WPA
Big Mets loser: Sean Manaea, -40.8% WPA
Mets pitchers: -28.9% WPA
Mets hitters: +78.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Juan Soto grand slam in the fourth, +39.3% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Wenceel Pérez two-run homer in the third, -21.6% WPA
![The Mets try to put a tiger in their tank against the [checks notes] Tigers](https://glance-mob.glance-cdn.com/public/cardpress/binge-magazine-card-generation/spaces/US/en/sb-nation/images/ppid_2cf3d240-image-175673583043898182.webp)
