It wasn’t easy against the lowly A’s, but the Mets came back from a 2-1 deficit in the late innings to win 3-2 in Oakland on Saturday. They will go for a three-game sweep on Sunday.
Here are the Top Takeaways from the win:
1. The Mets didn’t hit much against the team with by far the worst ERA in the majors, but they made the most out of their five hits, getting solo home runs from Pete Alonso and Mark Canha, and a tie-breaking double to the right field corner from Brandon Nimmo in the seventh inning.
Nimmo’s double came off ex-Met reliever Trevor May, the righthander who never quite lived up to expectations during his two years in Queens.
May was fortunate to get out of the inning after without more damage when right fielder Ramon Laureano made a leaping catch into the right field fence to rob Starling Marte of an extra-base hit.
The Mets surely expected to do more against Shintaro Fujinami, who came in with a 17.55 ERA after his first two starts, but the righthander allowed only one run through six innings before giving up a home run to Canha leading off the seventh and walking Daniel Vogelbach before being pulled.
Tim LoCastro pinch-ran for Vogelbach and stole second, then scored on Nimmo’s double.
2. In what is becoming a formula in Mets’ wins, Buck Showalter used his four most trusted relievers, Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, Adam Ottavino, and David Robertson to lock down the game in relief of Carlos Carrasco.
The four relievers accounted for four scoreless innings.
Ottavino and Robertson each had to get big outs with the tying run on third. Ottavino issued two walks and allowed three stolen bases in the eighth, putting runners at second and third with two outs. However, he struck out lefty-hitting Conner Capel swinging at 3-2 slider in the dirt.
In the ninth a single, a sacrifice bunt, and a ground out put a runner on third, and Robertson struck out Kevin Smith with a high fastball to end the game.
3. Carrasco was better than in his first two starts this season, but still not what the Mets are hoping for him. He gave up two runs in five innings, lowering his ERA from 11.42 to 8.56, but he still struggled with command, even hitting three batters with pitches for the first time in his career.
It was the first time this season Carrasco got through five innings but he was pulled when he started the sixth with a hit-by-pitch, his 88th pitch of the day.
The A’s aren’t an imposing offense, ranking 26th in the majors in runs scored, so it remains to be seen whether this start was a step in the right direction for Carrasco.
He was able to limit the damage when in trouble in the second and fourth innings. Ahead 2-1, the A’s loaded the bases in the fourth and though Carrasco missed his inside target on a 2-1 pitch to leadoff hitter Tony Kemp, leaving the ball out over the plate, he got out of the inning when Canha got a good jump on a fly ball toward the left-field corner and ran it down for the third out
4. With a solo home run in the fourth inning, Alonso moved into a tie for the major league lead with seven on the season. He has the solo lead in the National League but shares the major league lead with Rafael Devers.
Alonso slammed a hanging breaking ball from Fujinami to give the Mets their first run of the day. It was his sixth home run in his last nine games.
5. Francisco Alvarez continues to look overmatched by big-league pitching since his call-up last week. He went 0-for-3 and didn’t hit the ball hard, popping up twice and striking out swinging.
Most notably, Alvarez has looked vulnerable to the high fastball, chasing out of the strike zone and also having trouble catching up with high velocity. In the fifth inning he struck out swinging at Fujinami’s 97-mph heater above the belt.
The 0-for-3 day left Alvarez with an .091 batting average.