Final Score: Mets 5, Diamondbacks 4—Diamondcomebacks

The Mets staked an early 3-0 lead in Arizona against Diamondbacks rookie Jon Duplantier, who appeared to be negatively impacted by a long delay—the result of a change in home plate umpires necessitated by Jim Wolf taking a foul ball off the face mask. A Todd Frazier RBI single and a two-run double by Adeiny Hechavarria put the Mets ahead. The Mets had many more opportunities to extend that lead, but failed to do so both off Duplantier and the Diamondbacks bullpen, which cost them when the Diamondbacks took the lead in the sixth.

Zack Wheeler had been cruising until that point, giving up just one run, but surrendered two home runs—a solo shot by Ketel Marte and a two-run blast by Christian Walker—that put the Diamondbacks in front 4-3.

The Mets were unable to break through, despite their many baserunners, until the eighth inning. With two outs, Frazier and Hechavarria smacked back-to-back singles to put runners at the corners. J.D. Davis then hit a come-backer to the mound that deflected off the pitcher’s glove for an infield hit to tie the game. Carlos Gomez then hit a screaming grounder right down the third base line. Without a third base umpire due to the change in home plate umpires earlier in the game, there was no umpire close by to make a definitive call on whether the ball was fair or foul, but it was judged fair by the second base umpire. This message was not received in time by the ball guy, who picked up the ball, resulting in an interference double, which perhaps saved a run for the Diamondbacks. Nonetheless, the Mets retook the lead 5-4.

Seth Lugo was tasked with protecting that lead in the eighth in his first appearance back from the injured list. He pitched a scoreless inning, working around a fielding mishap by Carlos Gomez, who misjudged a fly ball off the bat of Eduardo Escobar that sailed over his head for a triple. But Lugo buckled down to get two king-sized outs to strand Escobar at third base. With Edwin Diaz unavailable for the second straight night, Robert Gsellman earned his first save of the year, working around a one-out walk to seal the victory for the Mets.

Full recap to follow.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.

1. MetsFan4Decades: 129
2. JR and the Off-Balance Shots: 72
3. Jets Mets Devils Nets 16: 56
4. Aussie Mets Fan: 56
5. MookieTheCat: 53
6. wilwilco: 37
7. BK_Machetero3191: 37
8. David Klein: 36
9. NateW: 27
10. stickguy: 27