Mets vs. Angels recap: The Wheelers stay on

One game removed from a losing streak, the Mets took a step toward starting a winning streak with their second-straight victory against the Angels.

Zack Wheeler threw five-plus innings on 99 pitches, and like Jacob deGrom on Friday night, he was able to keep Mike Trout in check. Given the Angels’ current lineup, even pitching to Trout in the first place seems like a rather bold move, but Wheeler challenged him in the first and struck him out before unintentionally walking him to lead off the fourth and sixth innings.

That latter walk turned into a run after Wheeler proceeded to load the bases with nobody out and hit a batter to force in a run before Fernando Salas came in and allowed just one run before getting out of that jam.

The mets had scored four runs before that inning, and they scored three more in the bottom of the eighth, which just barely made the game bullpen-proof. Neil Ramirez, the newest Mets reliever, got into a bases-loaded, nobody-out jam of his own. And that time, it was Addison Reed’s turn to clean up the mess. He issued his first walk of the season to force in a run and gave up a run-scoring single to Kole Calhoun that left the Mets’ lead at 7-4 with Trout coming back up with the bases still loaded.

On the spectrum of things that Trout could have done there, Reed came out nearly as well as he could. Trout hit a sacrifice fly to right field, and in that spot, anything less than a grand slam was a victory. There was a little bit more drama before Reed got through the ninth, but he eventually struck out Danny Espinosa to end the game.

The Mets have been incredibly streaky this year, but they’ve taken this weekend series from the Angels and have the opportunity to complete a sweep—and set up a lengthier winning streak—in their series finale with the Angels this afternoon.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Fernando Salas, +19.0% WPA, Jose Reyes, +17.1% WPA, Robert Gsellman, +13.4% WPA, Jay Bruce, +11.8% WPA, Michael Conforto, +10.1% WPA
Big losers: none
Teh aw3s0mest play: Addison Reed strikes out Danny Espinosa to end the game +13.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Kole Calhoun singles to cut the Mets’ lead to 7-4 in the ninth, -11.7% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +32.8% WPA
Total batter WPA: +17.2% WPA
GWRBI!: Jose Reyes