Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good, thankfully for the Mets, their closer David Robertson was both Saturday.
In the team’s 4-2 win over the Phillies, which snapped a three-game losing streak, the first-year Met got the final five outs to pick up his 11th save of the season. In the eighth and ninth innings, the 38-year-old issued inning-ending double plays that got the Mets out of jams that could have spelled trouble.
After the game, Robertson was all smiles talking about his latest outing.
“It’s like the greatest day of my life,” he said. “To be honest with you. I don’t think I’ve ever had two double plays in a game, not even in high school. I got lucky, they got a great lineup. A couple of balls went right where I needed them to go. Escaped with the win.”
The first came with one out in the eighth after Adam Ottavino walked two batters to put the tying runs on the bases. Robertson frowned Bryson Stott and the Mets reliever eventually won the battle after a six-pitch at-bat that resulted in the double play.
Robertson said that the result wasn’t what he was looking for, but he was lucky to get the DP.
“To be honest with you I was trying to get a strikeout,” he explained. “[Stott] is really good at putting the bat to the ball. I was just trying to get soft contact, I threw a curveball for a strikeout and got lucky.”
The final instance, with one out in the ninth, came after a Brandon Marsh single. Josh Harrison came to the plate as the tying run, but Robertson used his cutter to induce the game-ending double play.
“Guys that are real consistent personalities are usually pretty consistent pitchers,” manager Buck Showalter said after the game.
Robertson’s last appearance came almost a week ago on June 18 against the Cardinals. The Mets’ continued losing haven’t allowed chances for Robertson to enter games recently, but Showalter knows his reliever and can trust him even when he’s been down for an extended period of time.
“Robby is a guy who likes to compete. He likes to pitch. He’s a baseball player who happens to be a pitcher,” he said. “He’ll pitch whenever you want him to pitch. He doesn’t need you to pitch him if the situation doesn’t arise.”
The closer needed just 13 pitches to get the final five outs Saturday, so it’s feasible to believe he’s available in Sunday’s series finale that remains to be seen. Either way, Robertson — like many others in the Mets’ clubhouse — knows the potential of this team and the time for talk is over, they’ll need to prove it on the field.
“We’ve got a good team. Just got to go out there and do it, starting with today. Move on to tomorrow, hopefully we can take a series,” Robertson said. “It’s been a minute, so it’d be nice for us to get one and head back to New York in front of the home crowd and see if we can continue it.”
If the Mets can defeat Zack Wheeler on Sunday, they’ll win their first series since the May 30-June 1 three-game sweep against these same Phillies. They could also head into their six-game homestand on a winning streak that could give the Mets something to build on as the calendar changes to July.