With the Giants and Cardinals, the Mets’ two primary challengers for the two Wild Card spots, squaring off in San Francisco, the Mets had a prime opportunity to solidify their hold on a playoff spot against the lowly Twins. Bartolo Colon and his 3.27 ERA (his lowest mark since 2013 in Oakland) was opposed by Twins youngster Jose Berrios, who has been downright dreadful in his brief major league time.
The Mets threatened early, loading the bases with three walks in the first inning, but T.J. Rivera flew out to end the threat. That opportunity was wasted, but the Mets cashed in on Berrios’ inability to keep the ball in the yard (2.01 HR/9 entering the game) in the third. Jose Reyes led off with a home run out towards the Shea Bridge and Asdrubal Cabrera immediately followed with a second-deck shot that gave the Mets a 2-0 lead.
Bartolo Colon, meanwhile, was weaving his way in and out of trouble. Colon erased a one-out walk by inducing a double play in the first, then escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third with a flyout. In the fourth, Yoenis Cespedes had one of his occasional mental lapses in left and dropped a line drive off the bat of Max Kepler put the leadoff man on for the Twins. Big Sexy worked around that too, picking Kepler off, then inducing two more fly outs to end the inning.
In the fifth, Rivera led off with a single and James Loney followed with a hard-hit ground ball into right center that put runners on the corners with no outs. The Mets would squander this opportunity as well, however, as Travis d’Arnaud popped out, Colon struck out and Reyes popped out. Cabrera walked to start the fifth, but was immediately erased on a hard-hit ground ball from Yoenis Cespedes that turned into a double play. And the Mets couldn’t capitalize on a two-out double from Loney in the sixth.
Thankfully, these wasted opportunities didn’t come back to bite the Mets thanks to the brilliance of Colon, who did a much better job of limiting traffic on the bases after the fourth. The Twins put only one man on base over the fifth, sixth and seventh, that one coming on a single from Jorge Polanco. Colon finished the night with six strikeouts, two walks, and three hits allowed over seven innings, holding the Twins scoreless and leaving with a two-run lead.
Finally, in the seventh, the Mets broke through to add some insurance. Alejandro De Aza, pinch-hitting for Colon, led off with a single, advanced to second when Cabrera walked and scored on Cespedes’ ground ball single into center field. Curtis Granderson and Jay Bruce failed to capitalize on the first and second with one out situation after that, but the Mets established a 3-0 lead.
Come the eighth inning, it was time for the Mets’ late inning duo to polish off the win. Addison Reed entered and shut the Twins down with little effort, striking out Byron Buxton and Brian Dozier and inducing a pop out from Robbie Grossman. Jeurys Familia had a slightly rockier road, walking Joe Mauer and Kurt Suzuki to bring power threat Kennys Vargas to the plate as the tying run. Vargas hit the ball deep to left, but Cespedes had more than enough room to record the out and seal the win.
The win, along with the Cardinals loss, puts the Mets two games ahead of St. Louis for the second wild card spot. The Giants still hold the 1st wild card spot, ahead of the Mets by a single game. The Mets have won seven of their last ten and dominated every team except the Nationals over the last month (pretty much as expected given the weak schedule). Seth Lugo opposes Ervin Santna in the second game of the series tonight.
Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports