Coming into last night’s game, Travis Taijeron hadn’t exactly been impressing at the Major League level. After hitting .272/.383/.525 with 25 home runs and 35 doubles in 125 minor league games, he had been slashing just .159/.245/.273 with a -0.6 WAR in 21 MLB games. He had all but lost his opportunity to start games for the remainder of the season.
Alas, Juan Lagares‘ thumb was nagging him Tuesday night, so when Brandon Nimmo moved over to center field, Taijeron got the start in right. He started off his game with a high note, singling to lead off the third inning. When he struck out in both of his subsequent at-bats, it looked like another unsuccessful game for Taijeron.
Then he came up in the ninth inning.
After Kevin Plawecki singled, Lagares pinch ran for him. Dominic Smith walked before Amed Rosario tried (and failed) to move them over. Taijeron came up with runners on first and second and one out needing just a single to win.
With Jace Peterson playing a shallow left field, the 28-year-old Taijeron smacked a line drive over his head to bring home Lagares from second and win the game for the Mets.
“Not much was going through my mind,” Taijeron said after the game. “Honestly I was thinking ‘we gotta win this ballgame, let’s win it.’ That’s all you can really do, is go out there and try and win the ballgame, go out there and play as hard as you can and that’s all I was thinking about.”
After going 2-for-4 on the day, Travis is now hitting .188/.264/.292 with a 53 wRC+ on the season. While he has yet to earn a spot on the 2018 roster, he certainly provided a great ending to the game last night; Hopefully the first of many walk-off hits in his Mets career.
