The Mets (78-83) beat the Astros (70-91) by a score of 2-1 on Saturday night at Citi Field.
Rafael Montero got the start for the Mets and pitched well, giving up 1 run on 6 hits and 2 walks in 5.1 innings, striking out 6 and throwing 91 pitches. Montero will finish his debut campaign with a 4.06 ERA in 44.1 innings pitched. Rafa will still be eligible for “Rookie Status” in the 2015 season. Also, if he’s good, we’re totally calling him Rafa. ¡Vamos Rafa!
The Mets struggled on offense for most of the game, tallying just 2 hits and a walk through the first 8 innings against Houston starter Samuel Deduno and the Astros’ relievers. New York almost scratched out a run in the bottom of the 2nd, when a 2-out error (which should have been scored a hit for Wilmer Flores) and a walk put a couple men on for Ruben Tejada. Ruben hit one up the middle which was knocked down just past the edge of the infield by a diving Marwin Gonzalez, who had no chance to get Tejada at first. However, with an 0-for-ever Rafael Montero “looming” on deck, Flores decided to push the envelope and break for the plate. Gonzalez popped up and fired home, beating Wilmer to the plate by a mile to end the inning.
Montero worked around a 1-out double in the next half-inning from his counterpart Deduno, which was ironically the Houston starter’s first career hit. Montero again got himself into trouble in the top of the 4th when a hit and a pair of 2-out walks loaded the bases, but the 23 year-old fanned Jake Marisnick to escape the jam.
The Astros finally broke through for the game’s first run in the top of the sixth. After Dexter Fowler‘s slow roller down the third-base line disappointed Daniel Murphy by staying fair, Jason Castro hit a double to the wall in right-field which allowed Fowler— who had been running on the pitch— to practically jog home. The double ended Montero’s outing and season, as Terry Collins brought in Buddy Carlyle to limit the damage to one run. Carlyle gave up a base-hit to Gonzalez, but Castro held up at third, and would be stranded there as Carlyle got Matt Dominguez to line out to Flores before Marisnick once again whiffed to end a scoring threat.
Matt den Dekker doubled with 1-out in the bottom of the sixth against Jake Buchanan and moved to third on a ground-out from Eric Young, prompting Houston skipper Tom Lawless (which would totally be my prison name) to bring in reliever Kevin Chapman to face Daniel Murphy. Murphy hit one towards the right side which seemed destined to tie the game, but a diving Chris Carter snared it and flipped it to first to retire the side and keep the Mets off the board.
After Carlyle got the side in order for an easy top of the 7th, Jeurys Familia worked a perfect inning of his own in the top of the 8th. Jenrry Mejia came in for the top of the 9th and went untouched as well, capping off a solid group effort from the Mets’ bullpen.
Jose Veras did his job and got the ball to Tony Sipp, who was tasked with preserving a 1-run lead in the bottom of the 9th. Sipp got Eric Campbell to fly out, but then surrendered a triple to Young to put the tying run 90 feet away. After Daniel Murphy’s soft floater to left field failed to travel far enough to give Young a chance to come home, Lucas Duda stepped to the plate with the Mets down to their final out. Duda got ahold of Sipp’s 1-0 fastball and sent a screaming liner off the foul pole in right, giving the Mets a 2-1 victory with his 29th home run of the season.
Well, it might have been meaningless, but that sure was a fun ending. 1 out away from losing, the Mets got a homer from their biggest slugger and snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat. And maybe it wasn’t so meaningless. The victory keeps the Mets ahead of the Marlins and tied with the Braves (against whom they won the season series) for 2nd place in the NL East and the 7th best record in the National League. We’re technically hurting our draft pick, but we won’t have a protected pick, and we’re not going to be signing a “Qualified” free agent anyway, so that’s not too important. Finishing 2nd would be nice, given that very few have viewed the Mets as being better than the Braves in the last few years.
Montero had a nice ending to what was a decent— albeit slightly disappointing– introduction to the Major Leagues. He’ll still be considered a Rookie next season, so to say he was a “complete bust of a rookie” would be false in more ways than one. Whether he will be groomed as a starter for a bit down in Triple-A, join the Major League bullpen, or be moved in a trade remains to be seen, but Rafael definitely showed some potential, which is all that is fair to ask from a 23 year-old.
Duda got to 29, and he has a chance to make it a round 30 in the season finale tomorrow. I’m really hoping he gets there just for entertainment’s sake, but of course, it’s just one home run either way.
I don’t have a problem with what Flores did. You have the pitcher on deck. You’ve already gotten set to charge home with the expectation that the ball is headed through the hole. Runs have been hard to come by. The shortstop needs to have the presence of mind to make the throw quickly, and the throw needs to be on target. The catcher needs to catch the ball perfectly. Heck, with this new rule about blocking the plate, you might get a run even if everything goes wrong. It was frustrating, but it was a justifiable decision given the context. That being said… boy, Flores and Tejada are SLOW.
This was my last recap in my first full season at MMO. It’s been great writing for you guys this year and I can’t wait to get started with some offseason articles, including—what else?— season recap pieces.
Up Next: The Mets will wrap up their season on Sunday afternoon against Houston. Bartolo Colon (14-13, 4.08 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets, while Nick Tropeano (1-2, 3.78 ERA) will pitch for Houston.
Hopefully we finish strong tomorrow. LGM!
