Entering the second of three games against the Padres on a four-game skid, the Mets looked to their most consistent starter in Jacob deGrom to climb back to .500 for the season. Jarred Cosart, the former Marlin sporting a 5.79 ERA on the season, started for the Padres. Prior to the game, the Mets sent down Matt Reynolds and Logan Verrett, calling up Gabriel Ynoa to serve in the bullpen and reactivating Jose Reyes from the disabled list. Reyes started at short for the still injured Asdrubal Cabrera.
The Mets offense got on the board quickly in the first. Reyes worked a walk, then moved to third on a wild pitch and a throwing error from Padres catcher Christian Bethancourt. Curtis Granderson struck out, but Neil Walker drove the run in with an RBI single to put the Mets up 1-0. Jay Bruce and James Loney both nubbed slow ground balls to end the threat, but the Mets managed to give deGrom a lead.
deGrom did a fantastic job of making that one-run lead stand up. He held the Padres hitless until the fifth, when Ryan Schipmf lined a single into right with one out. Over the first six innings, deGrom struck out eight Padres and induced two double plays while allowing only three hits and a walk. His effort bailed out yet another putrid offensive effort from the Mets, who mustered only two hits and a walk while failing to take advantage of two more Padres errors over the second to sixth innings.
San Diego finally broke through against deGrom in the seventh. With two outs and no one on base, Yangervis Solarte launched a home run to right to tie the game at one. Alex Dickerson followed with a single, but deGrom was able to retire Ryan Schimpf on a ground out to end the threat and keep the game tied.
Miraculously, the Mets managed to snatch the lead right back. Wilmer Flores lead off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single (his second of the night, which is mind boggling) and Alejandro De Aza walked to put runners on first and second with no outs. Travis d’Arnaud sac bunted (a terrible, terrible tactical decision, even if it worked in this instance) to put runners on second and third with one out for pinch hitter Kelly Johnson. Johnson drove a ball to deep center field that Travis Jankowski made a fantastic over the shoulder the catch on, but Flores trotted in to score and give the Mets a 2-1 lead.
That lead appeared to be enough. Addison Reed set the Padres down 1-2-3 in the eighth on just seven pitches, setting up Jeurys Familia for the save in the ninth. The first two outs came easily for Familia, as he induced a weak ground out from Brett Wallace and struck out Jankowski, but Wil Myers then deposited a straight, middle-middle fastball into the left field seats to tie the game at two. It was Familia’s third blown save of the year, the first home run he’s allowed since last September, and it robs deGrom of yet another win he more than earned.
Unsurprisingly for the 2016 Mets, they failed to do anything meaningful in the bottom of the ninth. Flores reached with a one out single, but De Aza was retired on a bullet hit directly at Jankowski in center field and d’Arnaud looked bad flailing at a couple high fastballs to strike out. Nor could the offense muster anything in the tenth, as T.J. Rivera, Reyes, and Granderson went down in order. Thankfully, the Met bullpen kept the Padres off the board as well. Jerry Blevins and Erik Goeddel worked the tenth inning, while Gabriel Ynoa debuted with a 1-2-3 inning in the eleventh, striking out one and giving the Mets another chance to win in the bottom half.
Walker got things started with a hard ground ball single through the shift off of Padres’ closer Brandon Maurer. After Bruce was retired on another rocket right at an outfielder, Loney blooped a single into left field, and Walker was able to take third due to some excellent heads up baserunning. That set up Flores, who grounded the ball back up the middle to Padres second baseman Schimpf. Schimpf had a play at the plate but through the ball away and the Mets walked off, 3-2.
The win snaps the Mets four-game losing streak and brings their record back to .500 on the season. deGrom got robbed of another win, with the victory instead going to Gabriel Ynoa in his major league debut (somewhere, Jeffrey Paternostro smiles). Miami’s loss to the White Sox and the Cardinals’ victory over the Cubs now puts the Cardinals in control of the second wild card spot, but the Mets kept pace at 2.5 games back. Steven Matz takes the mound this afternoon as the Mets attempt to take the rubber game of the series and stay above .500.
Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports