Mets 8, Padres 5—Polar blasts

The Mets’ bats were sluggish again early in their Sunday night finale against the Padres. Through four innings, the team remained hitless against Padres’ starter Joe Musgrove. While he faced a bit more traffic on the bases, Mets’ starter Carlos Carrasco matched Musgrove zero for zero through four,

When the Mets squandered a second and third, no out opportunity in the top of the fifth after a Daniel Vogelbach single and a Mark Canha double—and the Padres followed by breaking the scoreless tie in the top of the sixth on an Eric Bleeping Hosmer RBI double in the top of the sixth—it felt as if the team might go down to a desultory sweep at the hands of the Padres. Further damage was avoided in the frame thanks to some fine plays deep in the outfield by Brandon Nimmo.

But the Mets wouldn’t squander a similar opportunity in the bottom of the sixth. After Starling Marte led off with a single and Francisco Lindor followed with a double, Pete Alonso would leave nothing to chance, rocketing a home run into the second deck in left center to stake the Mets to a 3-1 lead.

After a Vogelbach walk would chase Musgrove, the Mets would tack on two more in the sixth to extend the lead to 5-1. An Alonso RBI double off the wall in right center would be the key blow in the seventh as the Mets would tack on 3 more tuns to turn the game into what looked like a comfortable victory, though Joely Rodriguez allowed four straight baserunners in the ninth to ruin a day off for Edwin Diaz, who had to come in to close out the game. The victory allowed the Mets to take advantage of the Braves’ afternoon defeat at the hands of the Angels and extend their tenuous NL East lead back to 1.5 games.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Carlos Carrasco, +26.4 WPA
Big Mets loser: Brandon Nimmo, -12.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: +15.9% WPA
Mets hitters: +34.1% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pete Alonso three run home run in the bottom of the sixth, +22.9% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Eric Hosmer RBI double in the top of the sixth, -20.3% WPA