I don’t know how…but this patchwork team played their hearts out in one of the more exciting games I have seen the Mets play all year. Highlighted by incredible defense and hustle from Eric Young, Marlon Byrd, and yes, even Ike Davis — The New York Mets took down the Colorado Rockies, 3-2, for their 50th win of the season. The Mets jumped on the board early after Juan Lagares drove home two with a triple in the bottom of the first. He responded well to being slotted into the 5th spot, and drove home three runs overall.
Jenrry Mejia started this game and was on his game, dominating the Rockies through the first four innings with absolutely no issues at all. A unearned run scored again him in the fifth off a sacrifice fly, as an Ike Davis error allowed Todd Helton on base and advanced Wilin Rosario to third base.
A delay in the sixth inning — an umpire getting drilled by a foul ball — noticably threw him off his game and upon continuation of the at-bat, Charlie Blackmon took him deep for a solo home run to tie the game. Mejia departed later that inning in favor of Carlos Torres with the bases juiced and just one out. Torres induced a fly out to Lagares, who came up ready to throw, so the runners stayed put. The next batter, Todd Helton, lined one into left field where Eric Young laid out for a ridiculous diving catch to save two runs and Mejia’s sparkling 1.96 ERA.
Mejia struck out a career high seven batters and was on pace to strike out more — but the delay definitely threw him off. His velocity was down early but he made the most of it by mixing in his nasty breaking pitches effectively all game. This kid belongs in the rotation… I admit my mistake. What a talent.
Eric Young would come back to bite his former team in the bottom of the eighth and looked to be playing with a little extra fire under him all night. When Juan Lagares hit a slow grounder to second base with men on first and second, Young blazed the basepaths all the way from second to score the go-ahead run. And then… LaTroy Hawkins.
Yes, 40-year old LaTroy Hawkins was brought on for the save. After two easy outs, he made it interesting by allowing two singles before Ike Davis made a beautiful diving catch to end the ball game.
Honestly, the Mets played with heart, fire, hustle, and all the intangibles you want from a winning ball club — if only for one night. Juan Lagares, Eric Young, and Marlon Byrd cover an amazing amount of ground in the outfield and aren’t afraid to lay themselves out for any catch — and Ike Davis flashed some of the old defensive wizardry on the last play of the game. He also doubled twice and received an intentional walk, by the way.
Wilmer Flores, in homage to David Wright, went 0-for-4 in his MLB debut (just like Wright did), as he looks ahead to a successful career. Don’t worry kid, you’ll get em tomorrow…and hopefully the Mets will too — behind their ace Matt Harvey.
What a win!
