Mets Bullpen Proves Up to the Task in Win Over Cardinals
METS 5 - CARDINALS 4
On a night when they found out they would be without their ace Jacob deGrom for the foreseeable future as he goes for tests on his elbow, the Mets desperately needed their pitching staff to pick things up in St. Louis. And did they ever.
Led by a spirited effort by Jason Vargas, and continuing right through the rest of the bullpen, the Mets found a way to hold of the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 at Busch Stadium on Friday.
It wasn't pretty, but when is it ever for these Mets?
The game opened up with the Mets tattooing their old nemesis Adam Wainwright, who just didn't have it for St. Louis. Robinson Cano, who entered the game hitting .192, got the party started for the Mets with a 2-out double, and later scored on a Wilson Ramos infield single to make it 1-0.
Later in the inning, the surprising J.D. Davis lined a double to right-center scoring Michael Conforto to put the Mets up by a douce.
In the top of the second inning, Cano kept the good vibes going with a RBI single to right, driving in Juan Lagares to blowup the Mets lead to 3-0. Cano had a huge day for the Mets. He finished the night 3-for-5, but started 3-for-3, and even chased Wainwright out of the game with a double in the top of the fourth that set up another run scoring opportunity for New York.
Finally in the top of the sixth, rookie sensation Pete Alonso delivered a rocket off the end of his bat that wound up over the right-center field wall for a solo homer to give the Mets a commanding 5-1 lead. The homer was Alonso's seventh of the season as he continues to display immense power to all fields.
On the mound, Jason Vargas had his best outing of the season. He held the Cardinals to just a run on three hits over four innings before turning things over to the bullpen. And for once the bullpen was spectacular, even though it once again walked a tight rope.
In the bottom of the fifth, Seth Lugo worked around a double by Matt Carpenter and a single by Paul Goldschmidt to get out of the jam by striking out Marcel Ozuna and Jose Martinez. Unfortunately for Lugo he couldn't go unscathed, serving up a two-run homer to pinch hitter Lane Thomas in the sixth inning that cut the Mets lead down to 5-3.
In the seventh, Mickey Callaway elected to go to Jeurys Familia early, and the former closer had his best inning of the season, needing only seven pitches to get out of the inning. Callaway elected to keep Familia in for the eighth inning, which turned out to be a mistake. After getting Jose Martinez to fly out for the first out, Familia gave up a double to Yadier Molina, forcing Callaway to go back to the pen and bring in Justin Wilson.
Wilson struggled. He gave up an infield single to Dustin Fowler, which scored a run thanks to a throwing error by JD Davis at third, and walked Kolton Wong to put runners at second and third.
Callaway again had to go to his bag of tricks with Robert Gsellman. Gsellman masterfully worked out of trouble, jamming Jed Gyorko on a pop up to Cano at second base, and inducing Matt Carpenter into an inning ending groundout to first base to preserve a 5-4 Mets lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, closer Edwin Diaz made quick work of Paul Goldschmidt, striking him out swinging on four pitches. Next Diaz got Paul deJong on a hard liner to third that third baseman Jeff McNeil made a tremendous play on to keep the ball from going over his head. Finally, after walking Ozuna and giving up a single to Martinez, Diaz was able to get Molina -- a Met killer his entire career -- to fly out to center to end the ball game.
The Mets now stand at 11-8 on the year and are 4-4 on this road trip. New York will go with Chris Flexen on Saturday afternoon. Flexen is pitching in the place of Jacob deGrom who returned to New York to have an MRI done on his elbow. In other words, this a bullpen day for the Mets ... again.
On a night when they found out they would be without their ace Jacob deGrom for the foreseeable future as he goes for tests on his elbow, the Mets desperately needed their pitching staff to pick things up in St. Louis. And did they ever.
Led by a spirited effort by Jason Vargas, and continuing right through the rest of the bullpen, the Mets found a way to hold of the St. Louis Cardinals 5-4 at Busch Stadium on Friday.
It wasn't pretty, but when is it ever for these Mets?
The game opened up with the Mets tattooing their old nemesis Adam Wainwright, who just didn't have it for St. Louis. Robinson Cano, who entered the game hitting .192, got the party started for the Mets with a 2-out double, and later scored on a Wilson Ramos infield single to make it 1-0.Later in the inning, the surprising J.D. Davis lined a double to right-center scoring Michael Conforto to put the Mets up by a douce.
In the top of the second inning, Cano kept the good vibes going with a RBI single to right, driving in Juan Lagares to blowup the Mets lead to 3-0. Cano had a huge day for the Mets. He finished the night 3-for-5, but started 3-for-3, and even chased Wainwright out of the game with a double in the top of the fourth that set up another run scoring opportunity for New York.
Finally in the top of the sixth, rookie sensation Pete Alonso delivered a rocket off the end of his bat that wound up over the right-center field wall for a solo homer to give the Mets a commanding 5-1 lead. The homer was Alonso's seventh of the season as he continues to display immense power to all fields.
On the mound, Jason Vargas had his best outing of the season. He held the Cardinals to just a run on three hits over four innings before turning things over to the bullpen. And for once the bullpen was spectacular, even though it once again walked a tight rope.
In the bottom of the fifth, Seth Lugo worked around a double by Matt Carpenter and a single by Paul Goldschmidt to get out of the jam by striking out Marcel Ozuna and Jose Martinez. Unfortunately for Lugo he couldn't go unscathed, serving up a two-run homer to pinch hitter Lane Thomas in the sixth inning that cut the Mets lead down to 5-3.
In the seventh, Mickey Callaway elected to go to Jeurys Familia early, and the former closer had his best inning of the season, needing only seven pitches to get out of the inning. Callaway elected to keep Familia in for the eighth inning, which turned out to be a mistake. After getting Jose Martinez to fly out for the first out, Familia gave up a double to Yadier Molina, forcing Callaway to go back to the pen and bring in Justin Wilson.
Wilson struggled. He gave up an infield single to Dustin Fowler, which scored a run thanks to a throwing error by JD Davis at third, and walked Kolton Wong to put runners at second and third.
Callaway again had to go to his bag of tricks with Robert Gsellman. Gsellman masterfully worked out of trouble, jamming Jed Gyorko on a pop up to Cano at second base, and inducing Matt Carpenter into an inning ending groundout to first base to preserve a 5-4 Mets lead.
In the bottom of the ninth, closer Edwin Diaz made quick work of Paul Goldschmidt, striking him out swinging on four pitches. Next Diaz got Paul deJong on a hard liner to third that third baseman Jeff McNeil made a tremendous play on to keep the ball from going over his head. Finally, after walking Ozuna and giving up a single to Martinez, Diaz was able to get Molina -- a Met killer his entire career -- to fly out to center to end the ball game.
The Mets now stand at 11-8 on the year and are 4-4 on this road trip. New York will go with Chris Flexen on Saturday afternoon. Flexen is pitching in the place of Jacob deGrom who returned to New York to have an MRI done on his elbow. In other words, this a bullpen day for the Mets ... again.
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