Mets rally from tenth inning deficit to walk off Cleveland in stirring victory

Someone forgot to tell the Mets that they can’t beat good teams, as New York rallied in extra innings for a thrilling walk-off win—their second straight win against the American League Wild Card-leading Cleveland Indians.

The Mets’ offense was stymied early by Cleveland starter Adam Plutko, who retired the first nine batters quickly and efficiently over the first three frames. Mets starter Marcus Stroman bent but didn’t break for the first two innings before the Indians finally did break through for an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third. A Carlos Santana double advanced Francisco Lindor to third with one out, and the speedy Lindor was able to score on a slow chopper to third by the next batter, Yasiel Puig.

Stroman unfortunately physically broke after the fourth, leaving the game due to left hamstring tightness. This forced the Mets to go to their bullpen early, and the unit did an admirable job, starting with Jeurys Familia in the fifth. The Mets offense finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth inning. After a one-out Todd Frazier single, Juan Lagares and pinch-hitter Luis Guillorme, delivered clutch back-to-back RBI doubles to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.

The Indians answered right back in the top of the sixth to tie it, as Brad Brach surrendered a lead off walk to Santana, who came around to score the tying run when Jose Ramirez slapped a triple down the left field line.

The game remained knotted at 2 into extra innings, as Justin Wilson and Seth Lugo provided three excellent innings of relief for the Mets, but New York was unable to break through against the Cleveland pen in any of the frames.

In the top of the tenth, Luis Avilan came on as the sixth Mets pitcher of the night and quickly retired the first two batters. One pitch away from a quiet tenth, Carlos Santana hammered a 2-2 pitched over the left field wall to give the Indians a 3-2 lead.

Cleveland brought on their excellent closer Brad Hand to try to seal the victory, but Amed Rosario game the Mets life in the bottom of the frame by slashing a leadoff double into right-center. Joe Panik sacrified Rosario to third, which brought on the inevitable Pete Alonso intentional walk. The plan almost worked for Cleveland, as Hand induced a grounder to first from Michael Conforto, but Hand did not break to cover first for the potential game-ending double play, allowing Rosario to score the tying run.

That brought up Wilson Ramos, whose dribbler down the third base line could not have been more perfectly placed, allowing the preternaturally slow catcher to beat out a rare infield single. This brought J.D. Davis to the plate. With runners on first and second, Davis battled Hand admirably in a lengthy at bat, until he drove the ninth pitch he saw into the left field corner to bring Conforto home with the winning run, as it was Davis’s turn to have his jersey ripped off as the Mets celebrated another amazin’ walk off win at home and keep pace in the race for a Wild Card spot.

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Win Probability Added

What’s WPA?

Big winners: J.D. Davis, +26.5%, , +26.5%, Juan Lagares, +26.3%, Seth Lugo, +21.8%, Luis Guillorme, +15.2%

Big losers: Luis Avilan, -32.7%, Brad Brach, -11.2%

Total pitcher WPA: -4.1% WPA

Total batter WPA: +54.1% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: J.D. Davis’s walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth, +39.7% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Carlos Santana’s home run in the top of the tenth -42.6% WPA