The Mets hosted the Baltimore Orioles in their final meeting of the 2020 sprint of a season on Thursday night in a game that featured a little bit of everything. Timely hitting and pitching, and fantastic defensive plays.

After two solid starts and taking a metaphorical two steps forward, Rick Porcello took seven steps backwards with his start. Through the first three innings, the right hander gave up ten(!) hits and five runs to the visiting Orioles.

Although the Mets plated a run on a Jeff McNeil single, the Orioles dominated early, limiting the Mets to just three hits over the first three innings.

Porcello finished his outing after the fourth inning, giving up ten hits, giving up five runs, while striking out three. The only real positive is the face that the right hander did not walk a single Oriole batter.

However, besides a DJ Stewart homer off of Chasen Shreve, the Mets bullpen reamined solid, with a little help from two stellar plays from Jeff McNeil and Michael Conforto, saving two extra base hits with flashes of the leather.

The Mets gained the lead for the first time in the bottom half of the eighth inning thanks to Pete Alonso‘s towering home run just short of the 7Line cut out army in center.

Edwin Diaz entered in the ninth inning, and besides a Hanser Alberto single, was on top of his game, recording his third save of the season.

The winning pitcher of record is Jeurys Familia, while Hunter Harvey takes the loss.

Offense:

Jorge Lopez (1-0, 5.59 ERA) started the game for the Orioles, a pitcher who since coming over to Baltimore, has been solid, with a 4.82 ERA. Brandon Nimmo led off the bottom half of the first inning with an eight pitch at bat, while ultimately led to a ground out to the third baseman Pat Valaika. Both Michael Conforto and J.D. Davis followed Nimmo with ground outs to end the inning.

In the bottom of the second inning, Dom Smith got the Amazin’s going with a double. Robinson Cano could not advance Smith, as he hit a screaming grounder back to the pitcher for the first out. Pete Alonso singled in his first at-bat, advancing Smith to third. Jeff McNeil got the Mets on the board with a single, plating Smith. Andres Gimenez struck out on a rather quick three pitches for the second out of the inning. The rookie actually looked a bit juvenile in this at-bat, something we have not seen from him much, if at all during his rookie campaign. Robinson Chirinos continues to struggle since coming to Queens, striking out to end the inning.

Lopez got Nimmo to strike out swinging to start the bottom half of the third inning. Conforto then hit a rocket to Cedric Mullins in center for the second out. Davis grounded out to Rio Ruiz who made a fantastic running throw to end the inning.

Lopez really used the momentum from a solid third inning in to start the fourth as well, getting Smith to strike out to lead off the inning. The right hander does not have over powering stuff, sitting 93-94 on his fastball, but he was hitting his spots consistently, while getting the Mets hitters to chase pitches low in the zone, as he struck out Cano on a pitch in the dirt for the second out of the inning. Alonso recorded his second hit of the game, going the other way for a single to right field. Jeff McNeil stays hot, hitting an opposite field home run, his fourth in four games, to help the Mets close the deficit to only two. Gimenez was first pitch swinging, grounding out to end the inning.

Chirinos led off the bottom of the fifth inning with yet another strike out. The order turned over, with Nimmo grounding out to the second baseman Alberto for the second out of the inning. National League  Conforto continued his stellar season as he homered off of Ruiz, a screamer to right centerfield with an exit velocity of 110 MPH off the bat, brought the Mets within two. JD Davis follows with a walk from Ruiz. Brandon Hyde ended Ruiz’s day, bringin in left hander Paul Fry to face Smith.

The lefy-lefty matchup did not prove costly for Smith, as he dropped a single into right field, moving Davis to third. Cano breaks his 0-19 skid with an RBI single up the middle, plating Davis, bringing Baltimore’s lead to just 6-5. Fry however did retire Alonso on a pop up to Cisco behind the plate to end the inning.

Paul Fry stayed in to start the bottom half of the sixth, and got McNeil swinging on eight pitches. Gimenez tied the game with his second career home run, an opposite field homer off Fry to tie the game at six. The homer from Gimenez was the Mets 20th home run in just 10 games. Dillon Tate replaced Fry, and got Chirinos to ground out to Stewart for the second out of the inning. Nimmo was retired on a slow roller to first to retire the side.

Conforto stepped in to lead off the bottom of the seventh, with Tanner Scott relieving Tate of his duties, the left hander caught Conforto on the elbow with a curveball. Scott bounced back, striking out Davis on a high fastball for the first out of the inning. Smith popped out to Mountcastle in shallow left field. Scott is an odd lefty reliever. He has the best of both worlds, a lively fastball, which is rare from the left side, especially out of the pen, and sweeping off speed stuff, that when on, is effective. He ultimately got Cano to fly out to the right fielder to finish off the seventh inning.

 

The bottom half of the eighth started with a bang, a lead off homer by Alonso on the first pitch thrown by Orioles reliever Hunter Harvey, his 11th of the season, and his third hit of the game. McNeil followed with a walk from Harvey. Gimenez hit a grounder that was bobbled by Alberto, so the only play was the force on McNeil at second, the speedy infielder reached on a fielder’s choice. Remember the reference to Gimenez’s speed? Sisco made sure to put that fire out with a great throw to get the shortstop at second base for the second out. Chirinos flew out to right to end the inning.

Pitching:

Rick Porcello took the hill tonight, looking to continue his streak of solid starts, however it was anything but solid.

Cedric Mullins led the game off with a single up the middle. He then advanced to second on a slow chopper to Gimenez at short, where the only play was to throw Jose Iglesias out at first. Renato Nuñez drove in the first run of the game, singling up the middle, plating Mullins. Porcello was trying to rely on his sinker early on, and the O’s were on it.

Following the Nuñez single, D.J. Stewart hit a single of his own, advancing Nuñez to third. Ryan Mountcastle then took a bending curveball from Porcello to opposite field to plate Nuñez. Rick Porcello’s woes continue early on in the first. Rio Ruiz was called out on the infield fly rule on a pop up to Dom Smith. Hanser Alberto was set down to end the top of the first inning.

Compared to the first inning, the second inning was pretty quiet. After a leadoff single from Chance Sisco, the bats were quiet. Cedric Mullins did steal second base, but Iglesias grounded out to end the inning. Porcello seemed to have sharpen himself up in between innings. Renato Lopez was called out on strikes to lead off the top half of the third inning. Stewart recorded his second hit in as many at bats with a single to third. Mountcastle also singled, moving Stewart to second. Thee flood gates opened a bit when Rio Ruiz doubled to drive in both Stewart and Mountcastle. Alberto then singled again to plate Ruiz. Four runs on four hits. Porcello is continuously missing up in the zone, turning those mistakes pitches into runs. Cano makes a fantastic play to get Valaika at first to stop the bleeding.

Porcello was able to get Mullins to line out to Conforto in right to start the top of the fourth. When Porcello does not miss high, and is consistent in the bottom of the zone, he has proved to be somewhat effective. Iglesias grounded out  to Gimenez for the second out of the inning. Nuñez was struck out on three pitches for Porcello’s first 1-2-3 inning of the game.

Chasen Shreve replaced Rick Porcello to start the fifth inning, and the inning did not start as planned. Stewart recorded his third hit of the game, a homer to the Coca-Cola corner. Shreve, who has been one of the Mets best relievers this season, had a rocky start in the fifth. Mountcastle reached on an infield hit on a ball that Davis double clutched, giving Mountcastle a chance to beat it out. Shreve then walked Ruiz, the first three batters he faced have reached base. Shreve was able to record the first out of the inning, an Alberto fly out to McNeil. Shreve got Sisco on a nice splitter out of the zone for the second out of the inning. Shreve got Valaika swinging to end the inning, limiting the damage to the lead off homer.

Shreve came out to start the sixth inning, getting Alberto to fly out to Smith. Once Alberto was retired, Jared Hughes replaced the lefty, and got Iglesias to fly out on a fantastic running play by McNeil. Hughes then walked Nuñez on four pitches, bringing the flaming hot DJ Stewart to the plate, who was hit by Hughes. Mountcastle was up next, who was also not retired, was also hit by a pitch that did not break. That was all for Hughes, enter Justin Wilson who, thanks to a phenomenal play from Conforto, was bailed out of the inning.

Wilson stayed out to begin the top half of the seventh inning, and forced a weak pop up to Cano for the first out of the inning. Sisco was then plunked in the back by a curveball that didn’t curve, bringing Valaika to the plate. Wilson made Valaika look foolish, sitting him down on a pitch way out of the zone. Mullins rolled over, grounding out to Cano to end the inning.

As if it wasn’t interesting enough, Jeurys Familia entered the game in the eighth, and started the inning off with a Iglesias fly out to Nimmo in center. Nuñez hit one perfectly into the shift, with Davis practically standing on the foul line, throws to first for the second out. Stewart reached base for the fifth time tonight on a walk from Familia, Stewart was replaced on the base paths by Mason Williams. Ryan Mountcastle hit a grounder up the middle that hit the second base bag, giving Mountcastle his fourth hit of the night, and advancing Williams to third. Ruiz hit a comebacker that Familia handled, keeping the game tied at six.

Skipper Luis Rojas called upon Edwin Diaz to close the game out. The right hander has quietly had a good season with a SO/9 of 19 and an ERA of 2.00. Diaz has walked 11 and he’s only saved two games in six chances in 18 IP

Alberto led off the top of the ninth, and dropped one in front of Nimmo, the lead off hitter reaches to begin the ninth. Luis Guillorme who replaced Cano for defense, makes a fantastic sliding play to nab Sisco at first, Alberto advanced to second. Pedro Severino comes off the bench to pinch hit, and after facing consecutive sliders, took a fastball on the outside corner for the second out of the inning. Mullins, who coming into the at bat was 0-2 in his career versus Diaz, popped out to Gimenez to end the game. Diaz’s slider was working tonight, a key factor to those outs in the ninth.

On Deck: 

Mets head to Buffalo to take on the Toronto Blue Jays in their first meeting of the season. Jacob deGrom, who’s start was pushed up to Friday evening, is looking for a third consecutive National League CY Young award, and his numbers (3-1, 1.69 ERA), are pointing in that direction. The Buffalo/Toronto Blue Jays will send Chase Anderson (0-0, 4.94 ERA) to the mound Friday night. You can find the game on SNY, and could be heard on 880 WCBS-AM. First pitch is scheduled for 6:37 PM.