Behind a four-hit, two-RBI night from Francisco Lindor and a solo home run in the eighth inning of JD MartinezO Mets picked up a much-needed 3-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday night at Citi Field.
New York snapped a tough three-game losing streak and improved to 23-33.
Here are the conclusions…
– Lindor greeted the Arizona starter Zac Gallen with a base bounced off a diver’s glove Kevin Newman in summary. But on the sixth delivery of his night, a first-pitch ball to DJ StewartGallen spun on his right leg and the right-hander was removed due to a hamstring strain.
Bryce Jarvis entered and after walking with Stewart, managed to Brandon Nimmo on a sinking ship left, JD Martinez to hit and Mars Starling swinging in a ball outside the zone to strand two in scoring position.
And that was the theme of the night: Lindor got hits, the Mets had runners but couldn’t capitalize.
– Lindor did it all himself in the third, driving a 431-foot (105.7 mph) home run to deep left-center field Brandon Hughes. It was Lindor’s second home run as a right-hander of the year in 45 at-bats and the seventh of his nine dingers hit with two strikes.
The Mets then set up something with two down after Martinez walked and Marte scored the tying run and was in scoring position again. But Jeff McNeil shorted to ground to close the frame.
– In the fifth, Lindor got his third hit with a single, but Stewart fell looking and Nimmo hit a 6-4-3 inning-ender. On the night, the Mets left seven on base and outside shortstop going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position to allow Arizona to hang around.
– Pedro Alonsowho was not in the starting lineup after leaving Wednesday’s game after taking a hit to the hand, homered for Brett Baty with one out in the seventh and hit two doubles past the third baseman.
After the hitter Harrison Bader appeared, it fell to Lindor and he hit a two-hit RBI single to hit the right-hander Ryan Thompson to tie the game.
– Down in the eighth, Martinez caught a sinker on the first pitch and launched it 430 feet to center field (109.4 mph off the bat) for a go-ahead solo home run.
Marte followed with his second hit of the night and stole second, but McNeil grounded out on a half swing (he finished 0-for-4) and Vientos hit a soft liner to end the inning.
– Reed Garrett had a chance to close things out in the ninth and was the leadoff hitter Christian Walker on a full-count slider well outside the zone to start the tying run. But the right-hander got some pitch pop-ups on consecutive first pitches and batters Jake McCarthy land humbly for the second to end it.
– Christian Scott worked a smooth 16-pitch first inning — allowing a high, long flyout to the wall in left center and a two-out runner on a catcher’s interference. He had a 20-minute wait before taking the mound to the top of the second inning and after a leadoff single, threw a high, fast ball. Pavin Smith starting an attack, throw them away, killing twins.
Scott ran into trouble in the third – a bloop single to start and a walk single put two aboard. His fastball command seemed to abandon the young right-hander, throwing six straight out of the zone before Ketel Mars threw a fastball over the middle of the plate in the right field corner for an RBI double.
Scott needed 54 pitches to get through the first three innings and on the 19th pitch of the fourth, he left a fastball over the middle of the plate to double into the right field corner. But the young right-hander threw fastballs at consecutive batters to collect his third and fourth outs of the night and strand the runner.
Scott threw his first inning 1-2-3 in the fifth on eight pitches to close out his fifth major league start. His final line: 5.0 innings, four hits, two runs, one walk and four strikeouts on 91 pitches (58 strikes).
– Adriano Housertransitioning to the bullpen, was the first man in relief in the sixth and worked around a walk single with a 4-3 double play.
Sloppiness nearly caught up with the Mets again in the seventh when Lindor’s fielding error put a runner on first with one out, a steal of second, and a ball in the dirt that Narvarez couldn’t stop from being a wild pitch put a runner on third. with one out. But Houser got two outs to end the inning.
– Left-handed Danny Youngcalled when Jorge Lopez was DFA on Thursday, Arizona went 1-2-3 in the eighth with one strikeout.
Highlights
Game MVP: Francisco Lindor
Lindor extended his hitting streak to nine games and is batting .417 in his last 40 at-bats with four doubles, two homers and six RBI.
What is the next
The four-game set continues Friday night at Citi Field for first pitch at 7:10 p.m.
Right-handed Luis Severino (2-2, 3.22 ERA) takes the hill for the home team against the lefty Jordan Montgomery (3-2, ERA 4.69).
