Zack Wheeler and Todd Frazier played big roles in the Mets’ 3-2 over the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night in Flushing.
The win moves the Mets to 74-70 on the season and 34-20 in the second half.
Pitching
Wheeler allowed a run in the first inning on an RBI single to Eduardo Escobar, but after that he was in control of the Arizona lineup.
The right-hander allowed only the one run over seven innings on seven hits, two walks, and struck out seven. Wheeler lowered his season ERA to 4.21 after three straight starts of allowing only one run.
With Seth Lugo seemingly unavailable, right-hander Brad Brach was the first man out of the pen for the Mets on Tuesday with a 3-1 lead. He gave up a solo homer to Escobar with one out in the inning.
Justin Wilson came into the game with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. He walked the first batter he faced, Josh Rojas. Rojas stole second base with Wilson battling Adam Jones. Wilson would induce Jones into a groundout on the 10th pitch of the at-bat to end the threat.
Wilson came back out for the ninth inning with Edwin Diaz warming behind him. Nick Ahmed singled for the D-Backs to start the inning. Kevin Cron singled with one out to give the D-Backs runners on first and third for their best player, Ketel Marte.
Marte grounded out to first base for the second out of the inning, though the winning run moved to second base.
The game was on the line with Wilson facing off against former Met fan favorite Wilmer Flores. There was no magic for Flores on Tuesday as he struck out to end the game.
Wilson now has a 1.46 ERA in 24 2/3 innings since coming off the injured list on July 2.
Offense
Third baseman Todd Frazier got the Mets offense going with a two-run double in the bottom of the second inning scoring Robinson Cano and Amed Rosario.
The game would stay 2-1 until Frazier hit an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth inning, again scoring Cano.
Frazier went 2-for-3 on the night with two doubles and knocked in all three Mets runs. Cano was also 2-for-3 and scored two runs.
Pete Alonso had his on-base streak stopped at 34 games with a 0-for-4 night that included three strikeouts. Jeff McNeil also went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.
Game Notes
The Mets play game three of their four-game set against the D-Backs on Wednesday night. It’s a battle of lefties with Steven Matz (9-8, 4.00) going for the Mets and Robbie Ray (12-7, 4.03) on the bump for Arizona. The game starts at 7:10 p.m. on SNY.
