Mets’ Bench Mob Spoils Dark Knight’s Return

The festivities at Citi Field began long before former Met Matt Harvey took the mound. The Mets, on the other hand, were looking to continue the wave of Mazeika Magic and win their seventh in a row. The Dark Knight was greeted to a standing ovation from a limited capacity crowd, but his day likely peaked there.

Taijuan Walker (2-1), fresh off arguably the best start of his career in St. Louis in which he retired 19 in a row and only allowed one hit, started off his afternoon by striking out Cedric Mullins. He allowed a two-out double to Trey Mancini, but Walker would strand Mancini to end the inning.

Harvey would handle the Mets easily in the first, setting Jonathan Villar, Francisco Lindor, and Michael Conforto down in order. Harvey touched 94 MPH with his fastball in the first, showing the adrenaline working for the former Ace of the Mets’ staff.

In the second, Walker would lose his grip on the strike zone briefly, at one point walking two in a row with one out, and the second of which on four pitches. Chance Sisco would swing through the first pitch he saw following the walks, seemingly settling Walker down. He went on retire Sisco and then Harvey on strikes, stranding two runners on.

In the bottom half, the Mets would string together four hits in a row, before Harvey retired a batter. Alonso lead off with a double down the right field line, Dom singled into shallow left center, and that set up runners on the corners for Kevin Pillar.

Pillar would triple out to left field, staking the Mets to a 2-0 lead. On the very next pitch,  Jose Peraza singled on a line drive past the third baseman, extending the lead to 3-0. Harvey then retired Nido, Walker, and Villar to stop the bleeding.

Taijuan Walker was helped in the third inning by some phenomenal defense in right field by Michael Conforto to rob Austin Hays of an extra-base-hit. With two down, Walker caught Mancini looking to wrap up a 1-2-3 third.

In the bottom half, Lindor singled into right to extend his hitting streak to six games. With two down and Dominic Smith at the plate, Lindor took second base for his second steal of the year. Later in the at-bat, Dom singled into left field to score Lindor as the Mets manufactured their fourth run of the game.

A fine play by Jose Peraza to retire Ryan Mountcastle started off the fourth inning for Walker. He would then strike Galvis out, and endure an inning ending groundout from Maikel Franco to end the inning. As the inning ended, Walker retired his eighth in a row and really settled into a groove. Harvey rebounded in the home half and set the Mets down 1-2-3 in which he struck out Peraza and Walker.

Walker set the Orioles down 1-2-3 on just nine pitches in the fifth, upping his streak to eleven in a row retired. Walker was through five innings on just 62 pitches, 42 of which were strikes.

Villar singled and stole second base to lead off the fifth for the Mets, putting a runner in scoring position for Francisco Lindor. Vilar tagged and advanced on a warning track fly out from Lindor. Conforto singled on a two-strike pitch form Harvey, putting up the Mets fifth run of the afternoon.

Alonso followed the at-bat with a walk, which ended Matt Harvey’s day, yet he remained responsible for two more runners on base. Shawn Armstrong came in and promptly gave up a run-scoring double to a suddenly awoken Dom Smith to add on another run, making it 6-0. An infield single by Jose Peraza extended the game to 7-0, blowing this game wide open.

Walker surrendered just his second hit of the day to Mullens to start the sixth, ending his streak of batters retired. Mancini then singled on a ball that traveled no more than five feet before going straight into the dirt. Walker induced a 5-3 double play from Ryan Mountcastle to end the inning. Through six, Walker had allowed no runs and had struck out four.

Keegan Akin would come in for the O’s in the seventh, and handle the Mets fairly easily. Walker and Villar both struck out, and then Lindor flied out to center. Walker would continue out for the seventh, where he walked Galvis to lead off the inning. Franco would line out, but then Rio Ruiz would single through the shift and set up a first-and-third chance for Chance Sisco.

Sisco would weakly ground out to Pete Alonso, scoring Galvis to end Walker’s scoreless start. Pinch-hitter DJ Stewart popped up into short center field to end the inning and Taijuan Walker’s day. He went seven innings and allowed just one run on four hits, three walks, and four strikeouts.

Tyler Wells entered for the Orioles in the seventh and promptly retired Michael Conforto on a foul pop-up. He then walked Alonso and got Dom Smith to fly out to left field for the second out. Pillar popped out to the opposite side that Conforto did to end the inning for the Mets.

The Mets went to the bullpen in the eighth, as Rob Gsellman entered for the game. He walked the first man, ran into some bad BABIP luck with Austin Hays, and the O’s got the first two men on to start the inning. Gsellman, with some help from Villar at third base and Jose Peraza at second, escaped a self-inflicted bases loaded jam unscathed. Wells returned for the bottom half of the eighth, and promptly set the Mets down in order to send this game to the ninth.

In the ninth, the Mets went to Drew Smith for his season debut after starting the season on the Injured List. Smith set the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the ninth, and the Mets wrapped up a perfect home-stand and won their seventh in a row.

Smith completed what was a one-run, five-hit performance from the Mets pitching staff, one of their best of the season. Walker lowered his season ERA to 2.20, which is good for sixth-best in baseball and the third-best on the Mets’ staff.

Up next for the Mets comes a road trip in which they’ll begin by facing the reigning American League Champions, the Tampa Bay Rays. The Mets, now 18-13, will face Tyler Glasnow (4-2) on Friday night at Tropicana Field. The Mets will send David Peterson (1-3) to the hill as he looks to rebound from a weak performance against Arizona.

First pitch is set for 7:10 Eastern time Friday night on SNY with the radio broadcast coming on the Mets’ Flagship Station, 880 WCBS.