The Mets ended a four-game losing streak as their sleepy bats woke up and they defeated the Washington Nationals with a thrilling 9-8 win at Citi Field on Thursday night.
After scoring a total of one run the previous two nights, the Mets’ offense erupted for 16 hits. They’ll hope the fireworks display gives them some momentum going into a four-game series with the first-place Atlanta Braves that starts at Citi Friday night.
Here are the takeaways…
1. The Mets turned what was looking like a disastrous loss into an uplifting win with a two-run rally in the eighth inning, immediately after giving up a 7-3 lead.
The winning rally started with Starling Marte‘s single to center, and he then stole second base and moved to third on Francisco Lindor‘s deep fly to center.
Pete Alonsowho had broken out of an 0-for-19 slump in his previous at-bat, delivered Marte with a line double to right-center, and Alonso scored the go-ahead run when Jeff McNeil hit a ball off the wall in right-center for a triple.
David Robertson worked a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.
2. The Mets seemed to be cruising to an easy win when a weird and wild eighth inning turned the game into a nail-biter, as the Nationals rallied for five runs, four of them on a grand slam to right field by No. 9 hitter CJ Abrams off lefty reliever Brooks Raley.
The weird part was that the rally was built mostly on three hit-by-pitches, two of them by Tommy Hunterone by Raley.
A careless error by Lindor contributed as well, loading the bases for the Nationals with the Mets still leading 7-3.
At that point Buck Showalter brought in lefty specialist, Raley, who promptly hit Victor Robles with a pitch and then hung a slider that Abrams crushed for the grand slam to put the Nationals ahead.
3. After a couple of feeble offensive performances in the first two games of this series, resulting in one run, the Mets got big contributions from several players.
Lindor drove in three runs with two doubles and broke him out of a mini-slump, raising his batting average to .222.
Brett Baty hit a third-inning solo home run, his first this season, giving the Mets a much-needed dose of power as they continue to rank 10th in the NL in home runs, despite 10 from Alonso.
4. Joey Lucchesi wasn’t as dominant as in his first start of the season last Friday night in San Francisco, but he pitched well again and could have sported a better pitching line with stronger relief help.
Lucchesi was pulled with one out in the sixth after giving up two singles, the Mets leading 4-1. But when Hunter gave up consecutive singles, Lucchesi was charged with two more runs, and three on the night.
Still, by pitching well for a second straight game, Lucchesi could raise the question of whether he should stay in the rotation even when Justin Verlander is ready to pitch, should David Peterson continue to slump.
5. Baty had a night to remember, producing the first three-hit night of his career that included his first home run since his recent call-up, as he launched a low-and-in curve ball from Trevor Williams over the fence in right-center.
It was Baty’s second career home run, the first since he hit one in his first major-league at-bat in Atlanta last August. This one went 400 feet, coming off the bat at 102.5 mph.
Baty also had a pair of singles and a walk, raising his season average to .321.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets and Atlanta Braves begin a four-game series on Friday night at Citi Field.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 pm as David Peterson squares off against Max Fried in a battle of southpaws.