Livescore
The Mets these days look like a postseason team in a million different ways, or so it seems, with pitching, defense and heady play to match up with any opponent at any time.
But can they hit enough to make it to October?
They were already pushing the limit lately on finding ways to win, as Carlos Mendoza likes to say, before losing their best player and most consistent hitter, Francisco Lindor, to a back injury that is expected to sideline him for another few days.
Now it seems they’re looking desperately for someone to step forward and help carry the offense across the finish line, or at least until Lindor can get back and/or Mark Vientos can break out of what is suddenly a very nasty slump.
On Monday night it was Jose Iglesias tying the game with a single off the pitcher’s glove in the eighth inning, and Starling Marte smoking a line drive down the left field line for a 10th-inning single, scoring the automatic runner to end the game.
It all made for a dramatic 2-1 win at Citi Field that no doubt stressed Mets’ fans to the core because, for the longest time, it felt like the failures at the plate were going to wind up being the story of a missed opportunity.
After all, it would have been shame to waste more brilliance from Sean Manaea, who threw seven more dominant innings, a feat that has become practically routine for him. Eight times since July 2 he has gone seven, which is the most such starts in the majors during that time.
His 3.26 ERA doesn’t do justice to how well he has pitched, mostly because he’s given up some late home runs, but there are plenty of other stats that speak to how well he has pitched over his last 10 starts, or about the time he decided to channel Chris Sale’s sidearm delivery.
Here’s the one I find most impressive: Manaea hasn’t allowed more than four hits in any of his last six starts. That’s simply overmatching hitters every time he goes out there.
“The guy is just unbelievable,” said reliever Reed Garrett in the winning clubhouse Monday night. “He does it every time out.”
On this night it was almost fluky that the Nationals scored one run against him, he got beat twice on off-speed mistake pitches, a hanging change-up for a double by Juan Yepez and then an opposite-field slap single on a 79-mph sweeper that hung in the middle of the plate against lefty-hitting Jose Tena.
“Sometimes I think he still doesn’t know how good he is,” an NL scout told me Monday night after the game about Manaea. “He can blow most guys away with just his hard stuff since he’s lowered his arm angle, especially left on left. He doesn’t need to fool a guy like Tena.
“And I’m saying it out of admiration. He’s as good as anybody in the game right now. He’s as good as the guy he decided to copy (Sale), who’s going to win the Cy Young Award.”
That’s as high as praise comes at the moment, considering that Sale indeed is practically a shoo-in at this point to win the Cy Young.
Still, as good as he was again, Manaea left the game trailing 1-0 as the Mets’ hitters were being dominated as well by Jake Irvin, the same hard-throwing sinkerballer who one-hit them over eight innings on July 4.
But one thing about the Mets, they’ve been at their best in the late innings, even on nights when they’re not hitting. It’s a credit to their fight and maybe their belief as well.
So they rallied in the eighth, with Iglesias getting the crucial game-tying hit, a hard ground ball off of reliever Derek Law’s glove, and it’s safe to say not a soul in the Mets’ dugout was surprised.
“That’s what he’s been doing since he got here,” Marte said. “He brings the energy, the intensity, and he always has those great at-bats in those situations.’’
In fact, no one on the Mets has been better when it counts most. With his RBI single on Monday night, Iglesias is now 11-for-23 (.478) hitting with two outs and runners in scoring position, the ultimate clutch spot.
From there the game was won with great bullpenning, as Jose Butto, Edwin Diaz, and Garrett all delivered scoreless innings, with the latter earning an extra gold star for keeping the Nats off the board in the 10th, despite the free runner at second.
And that brings us to Luisangel Acuna, the recent call-up who was steady as a rock in that 10th inning, handling two ground balls with the game on the line, the first one right at him with the infield in and the go-ahead run at third, the second on a ball to his left that he made look easy with what appears to be very good range.
“That’s what the reports say about him,” Mendoza told me after his post-game presser. “He’s very sure-handed in big situations. There’s no panic in his hands.”
Finally, that allowed Marte to deliver the game-winner in the bottom of the 10th, only a couple of days after taking a fastball off the forearm that he thought at first broke a bone, it was so painful.
“But I was able to swing the bat tonight,” Marte said with a smile after the game.
The entire clubhouse was full of smiles, in fact, as the Mets had gutted out a win in which Mendoza was forced to use his bench to such an extreme that he was going to have to play Luis Torrens at second base in the 11th if the game had continued.
“It’s a good feeling when you’re using the whole roster and you get the job done,” Mendoza said afterward.
And as the music played in the winning clubhouse, soon the news filtered in that the Atlanta Braves lost to the Dodgers, allowing the Mets to climb ahead by a game for the third wild-card spot again. (A mood surely made even sweeter when Arizona fell in Colorado to move the Mets a game behind the Diamondbacks for the second spot.)
“This is fun,” Manaea said. “Every game feels so important.”
Twelve games to go and the Mets are feeling it, playing winning baseball. They’re just not hitting much, and they’re missing their star shortstop. The only sure thing is more drama on the horizon.
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