Flores Delivers An Instant Mets Classic!
The Mets (53-50) defeated the Washington Nationals (54-47) by a score of 2-1 in twelve innings tonight at Citi Field
Wilmer Flores, who gained nationwide attention on Wednesday night after he was shown tearing up in the field after he heard that he had been traded to the Milwaukee Brewers (which turned out to be a sham), received four standing ovations from the Citi Field faithful tonight.
The third coming after he drove in the first run of the game for the Mets in the fourth inning, after Juan Uribe and Travis d’Arnaud drew back-to-back walks, but his fourth would be even more incredible, but I will get to that in a minute.
Cold As Ice!
Matt Harvey was back to his dominant self tonight, as he carried a perfect game into the sixth inning. Working with only the one run lead, he hit a bit of a wall in the eighth inning, after a phantom hit by pitch to Clint Robinson that resulted in a bit of a lengthy replay.
After the hit by pitch, Clint Robinson was pinch run for with Danny Espinosa, who reached second after Anthony Rendon hit a grounder to Juan Uribe at third base, who couldn’t throw Espinosa out at second.
The next batter, Yunel Escobar, singled up the middle to tie the game at one, and forced Terry Collins to turn to Tyler Clippard, who came in to face Jayson Werth. After a thirteen pitch battle, Clippard finally wore Werth down, striking him out to keep the Nats at bay.
Harvey finished the day with nine punch outs, and lowered his ERA to 3.05. Unfortunately, The Dark Knight gets a hard luck no decision.
Clippard returned to the mound for the ninth inning, but after walking two batters, Jeurys Familia entered the game, and set down the final two batters of the inning, and pitched a scoreless tenth in a nice bounce back outing after stumbling out of the gate in the second half of the season so far.
Hansel Robles pitched the eleventh for the Mets, and made a nice play on an infield tapper, as well as striking out Bryce Harper, who got himself tossed from the game after arguing balls and strikes.
Carlos Torres, in his swan song wearing #52 (He will be giving it to Yoenis Cespedes tomorrow), struck out the side in the twelfth inning, and would come away with the victory because….
Cocked And Loaded!
Wilmer Flores, who has won the affection of all Mets fans, hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the frame, as he becomes the hero of the night, and ends the game in storybook fashion.
Baseball is an incredible game. There is no one you can feel better for right now than Wilmer Flores, who was almost traded just 48 hours ago, wins it for the Mets in what was one of the most important games of the season. It’s poetic justice.
On deck:
Jacob deGrom (10-6, 2.05 ERA) takes on Joe Ross (2-3, 3.03 ERA) tomorrow night, as the Mets look to chip away at the division lead. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 PM.
