Rays of Sunshine

After a thrilling comeback win last night, the Mets took another with, and the series, from the Rays with a 3-2 victory on a brisk day in Queens.

The Mets’ recent trend of giving up a run in the first inning continued, with Tylor Megill giving up consecutive hits to start the game, with Josh Lowe scoring on a groundout off the bat of Harold Ramirez. Megill would escape trouble by inducing an inning-ending double play to limit the damage.

The Mets wasted no time in coming back, scoring a run in the bottom of the first against Rays’ starter Taj Bradley. With one out, Francisco Lindor walked, advanced to second on a wild pitch, went to third on a Jeff McNeil single, and then scored on a Brett Baty groundout.

The score would remain knotted at one until the fourth inning, when last night’s hero Pete Alonso hit a solo home run just to the left of the Home Run Apple to put the Mets on top 2-1.

Josh Lowe, who scored the game’s first run, tied the game in the top of the sixth with a home run that was a mirror image of Alonso’s, landing just to the right of the Apple. A walk to Randy Arozarena and a bloop single by Ramirez put two on with two outs. However, Michael Pérez perfectly executed a throw behind the runner at first and Ramirez was caught in a rundown to end the inning.

Singles by McNeil and Baty set the stage for a dribbler down the line for a single by Tommy Pham to give the Mets their second lead of the day when McNeil scored.

Megill, after six innings and 79 pitches, was done for the day. Four strikeouts, one walk, four hits, and two-earned runs combined for his second-best start of the season. Megill gave way to Brooks Raley, who struck out two in a perfect seventh inning.

Raley went out for the eighth, but after giving up a pinch hit single to Wander Franco, was pulled for Jeff Brigham. Brigham induced a pop up and got a ground-ball double play to escape the inning with the lead.

David Robertson came in for the ninth and worked around a one-out double by Arozarena for the save. With this win, the Mets have won back to back games for the first time since April 20-21, and won a series for the first time since the April 17-19 series against the Dodgers. To take a series from the best team in baseball feels especially impressive for a team that, just a few days ago seemed dead in the water.

The Mets welcome the Guardians to Queens tomorrow, with former Cleveland starter Carlos Carrasco making his return from the Injured List for the Mets. Cal Quantrill will start for the Guardians.

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Win Probability Added

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Jeff Brigham, +20.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: None!
Mets pitchers: +39.0% WPA
Mets hitters: +11.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Pete Alonso’s home run, +14.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Josh Lowe’s home run, -18.5% WPA