Last night, the Mets totaled 14 hits and seven runs, which is a pretty, pretty good offensive day. If you see 14 and seven runs hits in a box score, you’re going to assume that the team had was hitting the ball quite well all night long, and maybe even socked a few dingers.
Well…..
At least six of the Mets’ hits were bloopers. And I don’t mean lightly-hit base hits that fell in front of the outfielders, either. I mean legitimate duck snorts. You know, the pop-ups with awful launch angles and even worse exit velos that just found grass. The Mets scored a run on a sac fly where the throw home beat the runner by 10 feet, but Yasmani Grandal dropped the ball. They scored a run on a ball deflected off the pitcher into no-man’s land. They scored a run on a wild pitch. They hit no home runs, and only one extra base hit the entire game.
The Mets aren’t usually associated with good fortune, but sometimes, the BABIP Fairy is just smiling down upon you.
But seriously what the hell was that?
Anyway, Zack Wheeler had another solid outing, tossing seven innings of three-run ball while walking two and striking out nine. The gopher ball was Wheeler’s main enemy tonight, as he only yielded the runs via the long ball. Max Muncy got him in the fourth inning for a two-run home run, and Cody Bellinger hit a towering solo shot to right in the seventh, his fourth home run off Wheeler in his career.
Nobody on offense really stood out much since the Mets were just hitting 145-foot Texas-Leaguers the whole game and somehow kept scoring runs. It was something out of Little League. Anyway, Jeff McNeil got two more hits, as did Michael Conforto. Kevin Plawecki had the only double in the game, before he was removed from the game after a hit-by-pitch.
After Wheeler, Relief Ace Seth Lugo locked down the last two innings with nary an issue, and the Mets won 7-3 to suprisingly take the series from the Dodgers. This is probably the best team the Mets have taken a series from all season long.
OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY
Both Wheeler and Plawecki will undergo CT scans for injuries suffered in last night’s affair. Wheeler took a ball off his chest, while Plawecki had the aforementioned hit-by-pitch to the ribs.
WHAT’S NEXT
The still-David-Wrightless Mets return home to take on the Phillies tomorrow at 7:10 p.m. Cy-Young runner-up Aaron Nola will start for the Phillies against Steven Matz for the Mets.
Photo credit: Kelvin Kuo – USA Today Sports