In what may be remembered as the Game Of The Year, the Mets rallied twice in the final two innings to pull out an 8-7 win over the Braves in Atlanta on Monday, thereby clinching a wild card spot in the postseason.
With the Mets trailing 7-6, Francisco Lindor hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth off right-hander Pierce Johnson for what proved to be the game-winner.
The Mets still have to play the second game of the doubleheader, and with a win would clinch the second wild card and go to San Diego to play the Padres. With a loss they would be the third wild card and go to Milwaukee to play the Brewers.
Here are some takeaways...
- For Lindor it was a fitting way to finish the regular season as he was making a legitimate argument for NL MVP honors before a back injury forced him to miss more than a week in late September. But since returning, Lindor has swung a hot bat, including home runs in two straight games, Sunday in Milwaukee and then Monday with perhaps the season-saver.
- Edwin Diaz rebounded from blowing a lead in the eighth inning to pitch a scoreless ninth inning, getting Travis d’Arnaud to ground out to Lindor for the final out. Diaz loomed as the goat when he came into the game with one out in the eighth inning and two runners on, leading 6-3, and allowed the Braves to go ahead, the big blow being a bases-loaded double off the left-field wall by Ozzie Albies.
Diaz could have been out of the inning but made a huge mental blunder, failing to cover first base on Jered Kelenic’s two-out ground ball down the first base line that Pete Alonso fielded with a dive. Alonso came up ready to throw but Diaz, for some reason, was way late getting off the mound, so much so that Alonso had no play.
- The Mets dug deep for the rally of their season in the top of the eighth, scoring six runs to overcome a 3-0 deficit after being shut out by Spencer Schwellenbach for seven innings. Five straight hits, a sacrifice fly, and then a two-run home run by Brandon Nimmo struck like lightning, accounting for six runs against Schwellenbach, Joe Jimenez, and Braves closer Raisel Iglesias.
Going into the eighth, the Mets had been held to three hits by Schwellenbach. The eighth-inning rally started against Schwellenbach when Braves manager Brian Snitker elected to have him pitch into the eighth for the first time as a big-leaguer, and Tyrone Taylor lined a hanging slider to left-center for a double.
Facing right-handed reliever Joe Jimenez, Francisco Alvarez grounded a double just inside the third base line to score Taylor and make the score 3-1. Pinch-hitter Starling Marte then grounded a single through the shortstop hole, putting runners at first and third with one out, and Francisco Lindor lined a single to center to cut the Braves’ lead to 3-2.
At that point Snitker went to his closer, Raisel Iglesias, but Jose Iglesias greeted him by lining a single to right to tie the game. Finally, after Mark Vientos put the Mets ahead with a sacrifice fly to center, Brandon Nimmo hammered a 94-mph fastball for a no-doubter of a home run.
- Carlos Mendoza walked a tightrope with his bullpen choices, knowing he had a Game 2, and as it turned out, a couple of low-leverage relievers played big roles in the win. Huascar Brazoban relieved Tylor Megill in the sixth inning and, after a walk put runners at first and second, got Michael Harris to line out to right. Adam Ottavino then worked an easy 1-2-3 seventh, setting the stage for the Mets’ rally.
- Megill gave the Mets a solid start, allowing three runs over 5 2/3 innings but he made a couple of mistake-pitches that turned into home runs for the Braves. Megill hadn’t allowed a home run in his five starts since returning from Triple-A in late August. The Braves got to Megill in the third inning. Harris singled up up the middle and then Albies turned on a hanging slider and hit over the wall in left field to give the Braves a 2-0 lead.
GAME MVP: Francisco Lindor
In a fitting final moment of the regular season, Lindor hit what may have been a season-saving home run with one out in the top of the ninth inning, turning a 7-6 deficit into an 8-7 lead.