Mets vs. Brewers recap: Gsell them down the river

If the Mets are going to turn things around, they’re going to either need their offense to be even better than it has already been this year or get much better starting pitching with roughly the same level of offensive production. On Monday afternoon at Citi Field, Robert Gsellman helped in both of those respects.

On the mound, he followed up Matt Harvey’s very good Sunday night start with one of his own. Gsellman went seven innings, struck out five, walked two, and gave up two runs—one of them unearned—on three hits. Considering the way he had struggled earlier in the season, the fact that he’s down to a 5.75 ERA for the year is fairly impressive.

At the plate, Gsellman took part in a three-run fifth inning by hitting a sacrifice fly that drove in the Mets’ go-ahead run after he had given up a run in the top of that inning. And with the bases loaded and two outs in the sixth, he was left in to bat with the Mets up by just one run—a head-scratcher of a move at the time—and drew a walk to plate the team’s fourth run of the day.

He wasn’t alone in his efforts, as Rene Rivera doubled in a run in the fifth before his sac fly and Michael Conforto later doubled in Rivera, but it was quite a day for Gsellman.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Rene Rivera, +20.8% WPA, Robert Gsellman, +12.4% WPA pitching and +9.6% WPA hitting, Wilmer Flores, +11.3% WPA
Big losers: Curtis Granderson, -10.3% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Rene Rivera doubles to tie the game in the fifth, +20.8% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Domingo Santana singles to left in the ninth to put runners on first and second with nobody out, -12.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +25.9% WPA
Total batter WPA: +24.1% WPA
GWRBI!: Michael Conforto