The one with the walk off: Flores, Nimmo, Syndergaard help take the series from Milwaukee

The Mets snapped their nine-game winning streak last night, but worry not, they picked themselves up, dusted themselves off, and beat the Brewers 3-2 this afternoon at Citi Field. Noah Syndergaard started for the Mets and, aside from a first inning where he threw 29 pitches, was absolutely dominant.

The Mets scored their first run off Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacín in the first inning. Brandon Nimmo singled off Chacín’s glove, was moved over by an error-inducing at-bat by Michael Conforto, and scored on a Frazier single. In the second, Syndergaard smacked a double over the head of Lorenzo Cain, but failed to score, leading to only one run being scored while Syndergaard was in the game.

The Mets had their chances to add on, but failed to capitalize. In the third inning, Conforto reached on a single, with walks later in the inning by Frazier and Amed Rosario loading the bases. Jose Reyes, however, was unable to bring anyone across the plate.

In the next inning, Nimmo hit a triple over the head of Cain, again, but didn’t score. Following an intentional walk to Conforto, Yoenis Cespedes continued his cold streak by popping out to end the inning.

Syndergaard’s no-hit bid, as well as his eight straight strikeout streak, both ended in the fifth with a left-field single by Hernan Perez. A hit and run and a stolen base put Perez on third with one out, but a questionable strikeout to Jett Bandy and an exceptional play by Amed Rosario helped Thor escape the inning unscathed.

The Mets loaded the bases again in the fifth, with a walk, a hit by pitch, and an intentional walk to pinch hitter Jay Bruce putting three men on for Syndergaard. The Bruce pinch hit was an odd choice by manager Mickey Callaway; due to the open base, it was clear that Bruce, who was pinch hitting for catcher Tomas Nido, would be walked in order to face Syndergaard. Earlier double by Syndergaard notwithstanding, this seemed to be a poor use of Bruce’s bat.

Syndergaard’s day would end in the bottom of the sixth, after striking out Jonathan Villar and giving up a single to Jesus Aguilar. Syndergaard’s day ended with 11 strikouts, two hits, and one walk. His changeup, in particular, looked great today.

He was relieved by Robert Gsellman, who began his appearance by walking Lorenzo Cain. Gsellman got Travis Shaw to pop up, but a truly weird play off the bat of Domingo Santana loaded the bases. A slow ground ball by Perez led to an errant throw/poor dig by Rosario and Wilmer Flores, and let two runs score, putting the Mets behind 2-1.

As they’ve been doing all season, the Mets answered right away, with a Brandon Nimmo solo home run leading off the bottom of the sixth.

In the seventh, Gsellman gave up a lead-off single to Bandy, and then struck out Eric Sogard. AJ Ramos was the next pitcher in the game, and he instantly made things interesting. A wild pitch, a walk, a fantastic defensive play by Ramos, and another walk, would close the books on his day. Jerry Blevins came in and induced a ground ball to first by Shaw to finish the inning.

Hansel Robles pitched a perfect eighth inning, with Jeurys Familia pitching the ninth. After striking out the first two batters, Familia walked Villar, who promptly stole second. But a hard hit ball to Rosario ended the top of the ninth.

Over the first eight innings, the Mets left 12 runners on base, and struggled to string together hits this afternoon. Of course, it wouldn’t matter, as Flores connected with a Matt Albers pitch and sent it over the left-center field wall and gave the Mets their first walk-off win of the season.

An important sidebar to their win today is that the Mets are now 2-1 in Sunday games, which seems miraculous after last season’s dreadful record on Sundays (8-17).

Tomorrow night, the Nationals come to town to face off against Jacob deGrom and the rest of the first place Mets.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Wilmer Flores +38.5% WPA, Noah Syndergaard +27.7% WPA, Brandon Nimmo +19.0% WPA, Jeurys Familia +13.1% WPA, Jerry Blevins +12.0% WPA, Hansel Robles +10.3% WPA
Big losers: Robert Gsellman -28.6% WPA, Yoenis Cespedes -20.7% WPA, Jose Reyes -13.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: The walk off home run by Flores, +46.7% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: The Hernan Perez at-bat in the sixth that led to an error and 2 runs scoring, -29.1% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: +31.2% WPA
Total batter WPA: +18.8% WPA
GWRBI!: Wilmer Flores