So I see the Mets have thrown back to 2016 for Saturday’s 4-2 win over Pittsburgh: Get good pitching, and score everything on home runs. Last season, Met fans would bitch and moan over a win like this. This season, Met fans will take anything they can get.
Neil Walker loves the brief taste that he’s gotten of Pirates pitching. He had an OPS of 1.086 coming into the game, and in the first inning he hit his fourth home run against the Pirates in his ninth game against them, and it gave the Mets a 2-0 lead. After the Bucs tied it on a Josh Bell home run and a ground out, Jay Bruce gave the Mets the lead in the third with a solo HR, and Wilmer Flores added another solo HR in the fourth to make it 4-2. Then, a whole lot of bagels.
But Robert Gsellman only provided the subsequent bagels up until one out in the sixth, when the bullpen had to take over. Josh Edgin was warming up in the bullpen after his three inning outing on Wednesday, but it was Fernando Salas who finished off the inning. Jerry Blevins put a shine on the seventh, and then Terry Collins did something very interesting: He put Addison Reed in for a six out save. It was a rope-a-dope, putting two runners on in the eighth and giving up a leadoff hit in the ninth. But Reed, who talked at the beginning of the season about being a super reliever, got the job done.
Who knows what this means for Sunday afternoon’s game if the Mets have a late lead, but with the team having days off coming Monday and Thursday, it was a chance worth taking. The Mets needed a win badly tonight, so playing for Sunday would have been insane, especially with Reed having not pitched since May 30th. Loved seeing Collins play for today and letting tomorrow’s chips fall where they may.
In addition to the off days, the Mets will get more help for the pen in the form of two of their starters: Steven Matz and Seth Lugo, the latter of whom pitched seven innings of one run ball as a Rumble Pony, and will join the rotation during the Braves series. With a doubleheader on Saturday, having Matz and Lugo back will be a huge help to both the rotation and the bullpen. Tyler Pill will most assuredly join the pen, and you would think that Gsellman would be the other pitcher to go over. Although there’s a certain knight with a cimmerian hue that might be served well to start games beyond the outfield. So stay tuned …
Today’s Hate List
- Bobby Bonilla
- Josh Bell
- Jake Guentzel
- Bam Morris
- Toby Millman
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