After failing to complete one last comeback on Friday night versus Detroit — snapping the Tigers’ nine-game losing streak and breaking the Mets’ four-game winning streak — the New York Mets welcomed the Tigers into a sold-out Citi Field for the second of a three-game set.
Wilson Ramos (3-for-4, walk, two home runs, four RBIs) provided nearly all of the Mets’ offense on Saturday, and it was nearly enough to squeak out a win in regulation (still in hockey mode, apologies).
The Mets had a lead in the eighth, but Edwin Diaz faltered in his first four-out save attempt of the year and the Mets failed to capitalize on a one-out baserunner in the ninth, sending the game into extra innings.
Wilmer Font, Daniel Zamora, and Hector Santiago combined for five scoreless — albeit, mildly scary — innings in relief of Diaz and Tomas Nido sent 40,691 Mets fans home happy with a walk-off solo homer in the 13th.
Pitching
Jason Vargas (hamstring) made his return to the Mets on Saturday afternoon after spending 20 days on the injured list. Before going down with the injury, Vargas had pitched to a 3.00 ERA over his previous four starts (17 strikeouts, eight walks over 18 innings).
The 36-year-old southpaw allowed back-to-back singles to Niko Goodrum and Dawel Lugo — the latter a squibbler that barely made it through the middle of the infield.
Nicholas Castellanos plated Goodrum on a sacrifice fly to give Detroit a 1-0 lead, but Vargas escaped via a double play from Miguel Cabrera.
Vargas worked around four baserunners between the second and fourth innings to keep the Mets in the game and benefitted greatly from a back-handed diving play from Frazier at third base with a runner on to help finish off a clean fifth.
All in all, Vargas threw five innings of one-run ball (five hits, three strikeouts, three walks; 81 pitches [48 strikes]) on Saturday, lowering his ERA to 5.22 on the season.
Over his last five starts (23 innings), Vargas has a 2.74 ERA but still hasn’t shown the ability to pitch deep into games. Hopefully, that’s an area the veteran lefty plans to work on as the season wears on.
Tyler Bashlor issued a one-out walk to Greiner and nearly escaped the sixth unscathed but Brandon Dixon crushed a two-out, pinch-hit, two-run homer to left field, giving the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
That ill-placed slider raised Bashlor’s ERA from 0.87 to 2.61 before leveling off at 2.53 (10.2 innings) after the right-hander recorded the final out of the frame.
After a scoreless seventh, Robert Gsellman allowed a one-out double to Harrison in the eighth, retired Grayson Greiner, then passed the ball off to Mets closer Edwin Diaz who embarked on his first four-out save attempt of 2019.
Diaz proceeded to allow an opposite-field RBI single to JaCoby Jones to tie the game at four, Jones’ fifth RBI of the series. Jones stole second but Diaz struck out Ronny Rodriguez on an 89 mph slider to leave him stranded.
Wilmer Font entered in the ninth and gave up a one-out single to Dawel Lugo but induced a 1-4-3 double play off the bat of Castellanos, then escaped a two-on, one-out jam in the 10th — striking out Jones on a big curve — to keep the game tied.
Left-hander Daniel Zamora allowed a leadoff single to Gordon Beckham in the 11th, but Ramos picked him off first with a perfect snap throw to Dom Smith at first base. After Dawel Lugo’s fourth hit of the game, Zamora retired Castellanos to complete a scoreless frame.
Left-hander Hector Santiago allowed the first two Tigers to reach in the 12th (Cabrera single, four-pitch walk to Stewart). Not a great start.
After Harrison popped out on a bunt attempt, Santiago issued another four-pitch walk (Greiner), then struck out newly-minted Met-killer JaCoby Jones and popped up pinch-hitter John Hicks to escape a death-defying jam.
Santiago struck out Lugo and Castellanos in a perfect 13th, closing out his third scoreless inning for the Mets since being recalled on May 20.
Offense
Wilson Ramos hit his fourth home run of the year — a 111 mph, 23-degree, 418-foot laser beam — to tie the game at one in the bottom of the second.
J.D. Davis, getting the start in left field on Saturday, reached on a fielding error by Lugo at third to lead off the bottom of the fourth — the Mets’ first true baserunner (Ramos’ homer was the only hit up until that point).
Apparently, Ryan Carpenter‘s motion out of the stretch caught the attention of the umpiring crew (his hands pause and restart midway through his motion, which appears to have been the culprit), and two consecutive balks were called, moving Davis to third with none out.
Pete Alonso struck out on a nasty slider for the first out, but Ramos capitalized and shot a well-hit ball through the 5.5-hole to score Davis and put the Mets ahead 2-1.
Amed Rosario drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and Wilson Ramos continued his torrid pace with an opposite-field, two-out, two-run homer, putting the Mets ahead 4-3. That was Ramos’ fourth run-scoring hit in as many at-bats since his eighth-inning homer on Friday.
After Edwin Diaz relinquished the lead in the eighth, J.D. Davis drew a one-out walk in the bottom half of the inning and Niko Goodrum booted an Alonso groundball to put two on, but Wilson Ramos’ magic ran out and he hit into a 5-4-3 double play to end the rally.
Todd Frazier blooped a one-out single into shallow left field in the bottom of the ninth but was left on first to send the game into extras.
After going down in order in the 10th, Ramos drew a leadoff walk in the 11th, Smith smoked a single into centerfield, and Frazier dropped another blooper into left to load the bases with one out.
But Aaron Altherr and Adeiny Hechavarria both failed to bring Steven Matz (pinch-running) home versus Tigers lefty Daniel Stumpf, and on we went.
Another fruitless frame in the 12th, Tomas Nido sent a Buck Farmer four-seamer over the fence in right-field to give the Mets a 5-4 win and move to 5-1 on their current homestand.
On Deck
Zack Wheeler (3-3, 4.74 ERA) takes the hill for the Mets in Sunday’s series finale at 1:10 PM at Citi Field. Spencer Turnbull (2-3, 2.68 ERA) will get the ball for Detroit.
The game will be televised on WPIX and broadcast on WCBS 880 AM.
