Saturday afternoon’s game against the Yankees was a tough pill as the Mets lost 2-1. Despite Robert Gsellman having a stronger outing than his last, the Mets bullpen were unable to secure the win. Gsellman allowed only one run and four hits over the four innings he pitched. With four strikeouts, the pitcher had good placement of  his deliveries with a good command of his fastball. 

Steven Matz made a good bullpen appearance and with a solid outing from Jeurys Familia, the Mets had a good chance of winning for most of the game. Dellin Betances entered to close the game yet dropped the ball as he allowed a run on a wild pitch to give the Yankees the walk-off win.

The Mets bats were quiet until the eighth when Wilson Ramos hit a solo homer, tying the game.

The most notable aspect of the game was the Mets defense having a stellar game, with two put-outs at home plate to keep the score close. 

Pitching

Gsellman went into his second start strongly doing a good job of controlling his ball and keeping it in the zone. The bottom of the first started off with DJ LeMahieu flying out to Billy Hamilton with Luke Voit coming up to bat. 

Voit hit a line drive single home run to right field giving the Yankees an early lead. Gsellman managed to get out of the frame without any other issues striking out Aaron Hicks and Mike Tauchman lining out to Brandon Nimmo. 

After an easy second, the third was going well for Gsellman getting the first two outs quickly, that was until LeMahieu hit a triple to right field with Michael Conforto unable to get the ball, Hamilton then came in slowly failing to make the play.

Gsellman allowed a single to Tauchman in the fourth who then got to third on an error from the pitcher. Clint Frazier reached on a fielder’s choice with Tachman being thrown out at home on a great play from J.D. Davis who got the ball home quickly for the second out. 

Brett Gardner stepped to the plate hitting a bomb to the outfield with Hamilton locating the ball quickly with a great throw home, Wilson Ramos then tagged out Frazier at the plate retiring the inning. 

With Steven Matz entering in the fifth to relieve Gsellman, the usual starter being bumped to the bullpen, after allowing 19 runs over 11 innings pitched. The Long Island native had a stellar performance with a clean line and two strikeouts in his first time on the mound since August fifteenth. 

Jared Hughes took the mound in the sixth doing a better job than his previous outings, his sinker being particularly nasty in his outing. Hughes got the first two outs quickly then began to fall behind the count as he walked Aaron Hicks but retired the side without a change in score.

Brad Brach entered in the seventh struggling greatly right away allowed back to back walks with no outs. Gardner advanced to third on a wild pitch Brach then walking Mike Ford making it a full house.

Luis Rojas then made the decision to bring in Jeurys Familia in the seventh with the bases loaded. Familia had an effective outing getting out of hot water unscathed. 

Justin Wilson made it out of the eighth without any damage.

Dellin Betances came in to face his former teammates and gave up the tie.  A leadoff walk to Frazier came back to bite Betances as he gave up a single to Jordy Mercer with the Yankees then winning the game 2-1 on a walk-off wild pitch Frazier scoring to end the game.

Offense 

The Mets bats came up empty the first two innings with Amed Rosario singling to left field only to be caught stealing . Unable to get another hit until the fifth, Pete Alonso singled on a ground ball to Gardner eventually getting picked off in a 4-6-3 double play. Ramos singled short after with the Mets offense getting into a groove at the plate. 

Wilson Ramos greeted Yankee relief pitcher Adam Ottovino with a home run to tie the game in the top of the eighth. 

Davis got hit by a pitch bringing on a base runner with two outs but Conforto lined out to end the inning. 

On Deck

Rick Porcello (1-4-0, 6.43 ERA) will take the mound to face the Yankees in Sunday’s first game of the doubleheader which will only be seven innings. The pitcher has been struggling as of late allowing four runs in three innings his last outing. The game will start at 1:05 pm EST

In the second game of the day, Seth Lugo (1-2 2.03) will start in their late afternoon game with the Yankees pitcher yet to be announced. Lugo had his first start in two years last week and had a stellar outing in doing so.