Smiles like a light house in the fog

Wilmer Flores drove in Brandon Nimmo to walk the Mets off with a 5-4 victory over the Diamondbacks. Steven Matz was roughed up and the offense squandered several big opportunities, but the bullpen came through in a big way, tossing five innings of scoreless relief to keep the Mets in the game. Devin Mesoraco tied the game in the eighth with a home run, setting up the walk off fireworks in the ninth.

Steven Matz worked around trouble nicely in the first, stranding Nick Ahmed at second after a one out double. He wasn’t as successful in the second, when Deven Marrero came around to score on a John Ryan Murphy single to give the Diamondbacks the first run of the game. The third inning was clean, and Matz seemed to be in a good spot after the first third of the game.

Meanwhile, the Mets seemed to have Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin on the ropes. Michael Conforto banged a hanging slider off the facing of the second deck in right field in the second inning to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Brandon Nimmo and Asdrubal Cabrera then started the third with back-to-back leadoff walks. It was a golden opportunity to put the Diamondbacks in an early hole, but the Mets couldn’t capitalize. Wilmer Flores missed a hanging slider of his own, flying out to left, and Jay Bruce and Devin Mesoraco couldn’t get anything done either, ending the scoring threat.

That failure stung immediately. Paul Goldschmidt, mired in a terrible slump, turned on an inside fastball for a solo home run leading off the fourth to tie the game at two. Matz then invited more danger, walking the speedy Jarrod Dyson with two outs, but seemed to be out of the threat when Dyson was picked off. Dyson was called safe at second and despite appearing to be out on replay, the call stood. John Ryan Murphy promptly followed with the second Arizona home run of the inning, putting the Mets in a 4-2 hole. It was the ninth home run Matz has given up in only 36.1 innings this season.

Phillip Evans pinch hit for Matz in the bottom of the fourth, and Seth Lugo replaced him in the top of the fifth. Matz finished with two strikeouts and a walk in four innings of work, allowing four runs on six hits and raising his ERA to 4.42. Lugo fared much better than Matz, tossing two scoreless innings to keep the deficit at two heading to the bottom of the sixth.

Of course, it doesn’t matter how big the deficit is if you squander all your scoring opportunities. An infield hit (that was really an error) and a single to right put runners on first and third with no outs in the sixth. Devin Mesoraco didn’t capitalize, popping out, but Michael Conforto kept the threat alive with a walk to load the bases. That left things up to Jose Reyes and pinch hitter Adrian Gonzalez. Reyes fouled out, Gonzalez flew out, and no runs scored.

Momentum isn’t a thing in baseball, but it certainly felt like this game was over. You can’t predict baseball though, and the Mets were not finished just yet. After Paul Sewald and AJ Ramos kept things quiet in the seventh and eighth, Jay Bruce led off the bottom of the eighth with a line drive single off of shut down reliever Archie Bradley. Devin Mesoraco followed two pitches later with a monster home run to left field, tying the game at four.

Jeurys Familia put the Diamondbacks down in order in the ninth, and it was time to get the game wrapped up and send a soggy crowd home happy. Brandon Nimmo led off with his first hit of the season against a lefty, a double off the right field wall that put the winning run in scoring position with no outs. Asdrubal Cabrera dropped down a perfect bunt to put runners at the corners. Wilmer Flores got himself in an 0-2 hole but went down and gota slider out of the zone, looping it into left field for a sacrifice fly to give the Mets a walk off 5-4 victory.

It was Flores’s eighth career walk off, putting him one behind David Wright for the club record. It was also the first time the Mets have won back to back games in five weeks, and gives them a great chance for a sweep with Noah Syndergaard on the mound tomorrow against Clay Buchholz.

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What’s WPA?

Big winners: Devin Mesoraco, +26.3% WPA; Brandon Nimmo, +23.3% WPA; Michael Conforto, +19.5% WPA; Jay Bruce, +15.7% WPA
Big losers: Steven Matz, -30.0% WPA; Jose Reyes, -18.4% WPA; Amed Rosario, -16.7% WPA; Adrian Gonzalez, -11.8% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Devin Mesoraco ties the game with a two-run home run in the eighth, +37.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: John Ryan Murphy gives the Diamondbacks a 4-2 lead with a two-run home run off of Steven Matz, -22.6% WPA
Total pitcher WPA: -4.2% WPA
Total batter WPA: 54.2% WPA
GWRBI!: Wilmer Flores