Final Score: Mets 4, Indians 3—Just Delightful Davis

The Mets had another thrilling home victory tonight, as they went into extra innings and managed a come-from-behind walk-off victory against the Cleveland Indians to maintain their pace in the wild card race.

It was a slow start for the Mets tonight, as the offense did not even manage to get a baserunner until the fourth inning. By that time, the Indians were already up 1-0, having scored in the third inning a run on an RBI groundout by Yasiel Puig after hits by Francisco Lindor and Carlos Santana. As if the first few innings of this game wasn’t bad enough due to the anemic offense, it also gave us an early exit by Marcus Stroman, who left after four innings due to left hamstring tightness. The Mets did break through in the bottom of the fifth inning thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Juan Lagares and pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme, which put the Mets up 2-1. It was a short-lived lead, however, as Brad Brach surrendered a one-out RBI triple to Jose Ramirez to tie the game up at 2-2.

Neither team managed to bring a run across the board over the next few innings, and we went into extras with the score still tied at two apiece. Luis Avilan came on to pitch for the Mets in the tenth, and after retiring the first two batters in the inning, Carlos Santana hammered a 2-2 pitched over the left field wall to give the Indians a 3-2 lead. Brad Hand came on to try to get the save for the Indians, and he immediately gave up a lead-off single to Amed Rosario. After a sacrifice bunt by Joe Panik to move Rosario to third, the Indians intentionally walked Pete Alonso to bring up Michael Conforto with the tying run on base. Conforto hit a groundball to first base which could have been a game-ending double play, but Hand did not break for first base, which allowed Conforto to reach first and for Rosario to score the tying run from third base. The Mets subsequently benefited from a genuine miracle—an infield single from Wilson Ramos—which brought J.D. Davis up to the plate with the winning run on second base. And Davis delivered his most clutch hit in his Mets career in this crucial spot, as he drove the ninth pitch of his at-bat over the head of Tyler Naquin in left field to bring Conforto home and deliver the Mets a crucial victory as the team continues to fight for a wild card spot.

Full recap to follow.

GameThread Roll Call

Nice job by PJpridezone; your effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.

1. PJpridezone: 177
2. MookiesTheMan: 148
3. MetsFan4Decades: 135
4. Kepler: 129
5. JR and the Off-Balance Shots: 119
6. YuretRastin: 61
7. MookieTheCat: 53
8. The Glider: 50
9. deegie: 47
10. stickguy: 40