The New York Mets (17-21) defeated the New York Yankees (20-16) at Citi Field tonight with an amazing comeback winning 9-7.
On September 2nd, 2020 as every Mets fan found out the breaking news ”The Franchise” a.k.a George Thomas Seaver passed away on Monday at the age of 75 years old due to complications of battling dementia and COVID disease. Seaver was one of the greatest power right-handed pitchers to ever toe the rubber for the New York Mets. He won 311 games, recorded 3,640 strikeouts pitching between 4 major league teams including 11 seasons with the New York Mets. Tom Seaver will always be known for carrying the 1969 World Series Champions from a last-place team to a first-place contender. The Mets retired Seaver’s number in 1988 at Shea Stadium which was the first uniform number to ever be retired in New York Mets history. The Franchise will be deeply missed, rest in peace number 41.
On another note, today’s game, the Mets will look to continue their success after their 9-4 victory against the Baltimore Orioles. Robert Gsellman will get the start against the New York Yankees this evening, his start against the Yankees last week was a step in the right direction after his recent struggles since being put into the starting rotation.
Todd Frazier will be playing his second game of the year at third base, batting clean-up, since being re-acquired from the Texas Rangers. The new trade acquisition catcher Robinson Chirinos, as well acquired from the Texas Rangers will be making his first start as a Met. He will be batting ninth.
Last weekend, both teams played a five-game series including two doubleheaders. Yankees took three out of the five after the Mets swept the first doubleheader of the series. The Mets will look to tie the series and leave this year’s seasons series tied at 3-3.
Pitching:
Robert Gsellman didn’t fare well in his second start straight against the Yankees, he only lasted 1 and 2/3 innings. He gave up four earned runs, four hits, and walked four batters. After walking his fourth batter of the inning, Luis Rojas decided to pull the plug finally and had the lefty Chasen Shreve come into the game with a bases-loaded situation with already having two outs to work with.
Chasen Shreve was the long man out of the bullpen after rookie David Peterson did a tremendous job in that role against the Orioles in yesterday’s game. Shreve faced lefty Mike Ford with the bases loaded in the second as he successfully got him to line out to outfielder Jake Marisnick to retire the inning. The veteran continued on to pitch the third and fourth inning giving up no earned runs keeping the Mets in the game at a score of 4-1.
Jeurys Familia was on point today pouring in the strikes to the Yankees hitters which resulted in two scoreless innings on 22 pitches.
Miguel Castro got the nod for the seventh inning with the score still tied at 4-4. Castro struggled in his second stint out of the Mets bullpen his command got the best of him allowing two walks leading to two go-ahead runs giving the Yankees a 6-4 lead.
Justin Wilson was on to the pitch the eighth inning for the second straight day. He gave up only one earned run on two hits in his performance. His earned run average after this outing was 5.68 ERA.
Edwin Diaz pitched a clean ninth, only allowing one baserunner. Diaz continued on to pitch in extra innings he got DJ LeMahieu to line out into a double play as there was a little miscommunication with the pinch-runner at second with Tyler Wade. So with already, two outs in the inning Diaz struck out Luke Voit with a wicked slider to end the top of the frame to build some momentum for the offense going into the bottom of the tenth.
Offense:
The Mets got their offense flowing against J.A. Happ around the top of the third inning, as the lineup was starting to heat up. Todd Frazier hit an opposite-field home run to right field for his first home run of the year as a Met to cut the score down to a 4-1 Yankee lead.
Todd Fraizer was up again in the following inning as he smacked a double past, Brett Gardner, to lead off the inning. After two batters were eliminated, Jake Marisnick kicked off a two-out rally doubling over the head of Brett Gardner driving in Todd Frazier to score, 4-2 Yankees. The next man in the lineup Amed Rosario hit a single the other way into right field, drove in Marisnick to get within one run. Jeff McNeil singled on a line drive into left-center field to bring in the tying run to make it even at 4-4.
The Mets threatened again in the bottom of the eighth inning down again 7-4. Amed Rosario came up to bat with bases loaded and knocked another two runs in to add to his RBI total for the day cutting the Mets deficit down to 7-6. Wilson Ramos had the chance to at least drive in the tying run with runners at first and third but unsuccessfully grounded into an inning-ending third out of the inning.
Jeff McNeil leadoff with a walk against Aroldis Chapman, Luis Rojas brought in pinch-runner Billy Hamilton of course for his lightning speed. Hamilton ended up stealing second base to get into scoring position as the tying run, then got a little too greedy and got himself out at third-base. Luckily the batter that was up at the plate J.D Davis made up for Hamilton’s error and hit a home run dead central to tie the game at 7-7. This was Aroldis Chapman‘s second blown save against the Mets this season.
Dominic Smith was the pinch-runner at second base for the Mets in the bottom of the tent. Pete Alonso was the first guy to try and cash in the winning run. So the second pitch of the at-bat Pete cranked the first two-run leadoff walk-off home runs in Mets history which completed the Mets comeback at a final score of 9-7.
On Deck:
Mets and Phillies will be starting a four-game series this weekend at Citi Field. This series, in my opinion, will determine if the Mets will make a playoff berth or not. Honestly, I believe this team can overcome their struggles and make a run starting tomorrow. I think this team is just underperforming if they put their mind to it in these next two weeks I really think they can stay in contention.
Rick Porcello (1-4, 6.00 ERA) will get the start tomorrow against former All-Star Jake Arrieta (2-4, 6.49 ERA) who has also struggled this season, both pitchers will look to get back on track. The game will be televised on SNY and start at 7:10 pm.
