Hits Don’t Lie

Mazeika

Patrick Mazeika sure had a night, eh?

It was a weird night all around. Chris Bassitt gave up one run in 5 and 2/3’s innings tonight, but it was far from smooth. He and Mazeika spend half the first inning trying to get together on signs, He let a couple of pitches get a way (perhaps those baseballs were a little extra slick tonight), and he just seemed to labor through his outing as he gave up five hits and three walks. But he got through it, helped by Seth Lugo ending the threat the Mariners stacked against Bassitt in the 6th.

Meanwhile, the Mets scratched together four runs for Bassitt. Francisco Lindor drove in the first two with a single in the first and a sac fly in the third. Jeff McNeil also hit a sac fly in the third on a ball that Steven Souza Jr. made an incredible circus catch on (and by “incredible” I clearly mean “got a little lucky”.) Then Pete Alonso’s double in the 5th made it 4-0. Starling Marte, who had three hits on the night, scored three of those first four runs. With the Mariners kicking the ball around on defense (Souza followed up his circus catch by dropping the easiest fly ball known to man or beast), it seemed like this game was going to be comfortable.

Hits Don't Lie

But Jesse Winker just had to be the villain again. Chasen Shreve came in to face him in the 7th with two runners on, and Winker smacked it over the right field fence to tie the game. Coming into tonight, Winker had a career .198 average vs lefties with a .625 OPS. The weird thing about that last number is that his OBP (.313) was higher than his slugging percentage (.312). So Winker’s home run really did come out of nowhere.

But like a bolt from the blue, Mazeika balanced the angst in his night with some happiness:

With this being his first game of the season, with all of the hardship over the signs and being on the same page as Bassitt, this was one hell of a home run to hit.

With the Jarred Kelenic talk entering this weekend series before he got sent down, it was almost an afterthought that Edwin Diaz also had a chance to face his former team. He did so in the top of the 9th to protect a one run lead. He was his usual 2022 self:

With this win, the Mets have a chance to keep their unbeaten series streak alive heading into Sunday’s rubber match. Maybe Shakira would like to come back and provide some more good mojo to the boys?

Today’s Hate List

1. Jesse Winker
2. Jesse Winker
3. Jesse Winker
4. Jesse Winker
5. I don’t really hate the guy, but he wants to be a villian, so congratulations.

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