After needing to win one game of a doubleheader the day after the rest of the league finished the season to clinch a postseason berth and then flying back to Milwaukee to face a rested Brewers team in the Wild Card series, a 2-0 first-inning deficit must have seemed like no big deal to the Mets on Tuesday evening.
Just another challenge and another obstacle for the Mets to overcome. Something to make the 8-4 win – which featured erasing deficits on two occasions – all the more sweeter.
“This is when it’s fun,” J.D. Martinez, who delivered a two-RBI single in the decisive five-run fifth inning, told SNY’s Steve Gelbs.
“We’re in the playoffs, it’s easy when the crowd is high-energy like this,” Martinez said of overcoming the quick turnaround. “Torii Hunter said it to me one time, ‘All you gotta do is get into the playoffs, I know you’re tired, but just find a way to get in.’ The fans and the adrenaline and all the hype takes care of everything else.”
Of course, the veteran savvy of the 37-year-old Martinez who made his 34th career postseason appearance with his fifth-inning pinch-hit doesn’t apply to everyone.
“Imma be honest with you, walking into the clubhouse today I was really nervous, really nervous, felt the nerves of the first playoff game,” Mark Vientos told Gelbs.
The nerves may have contributed to Vientos misplaying a ball hit by Brice Turang that turned into a leadoff double in the bottom of the first. But the third baseman made up for it with a single that started the Mets’ three-run second and a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth.
“Honestly, I’m glad I got the first one out of the way and I did my thing and helped the team win as much as I can,” Vientos said, who added he got through the game with a lot of “self-talk” to help keep his emotions in check.
“I think before the game, we were kind of talking about emotions and trying to stay even keel,” he added. “J.D. was just like the guys that keep their emotions the most even keel are the ones that are going to come out on top. So I kind of like ran with that.”
The Mets' second comeback of the day – after Jesse Winker's two-run triple in the second – started with Jose Iglesias' two-out run-scoring infield hit with a head-first dive. And after a Brandon Nimmo infield hit, Vientos got the chance to face left-hander Aaron Ashby.
The 24-year-old took a first pitch 99 mph sinker and drove it 105 mph off the bat for an opposite-field two runs single.