Mets blow lead but rally late once again for fourth straight win

Veteran Max Scherzer and rookie Tanner Bibee matched zeroes early in the first game of this day-night doubleheader. The Mets did squander an early opportunity, leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the second.

The game would remain scoreless until fourth, when the Mets would score first, for the first time in—checks notes—14 games (May 5th vs. Colorado). With two outs and none on after Bibee picked Starling Marie off of first, the Mets staged a rally behind a Daniel Vogelbach walk, a single by Gary Sanchez—making his Mets debut—and and an RBI single from Eduardo Escobar. Sanchez was thrown out at the plate trying to score after right fielder Gabriel Arias mishandled the ball.

Scherzer continued to deal, pitching his best game of the season thus far. The righty leaned heavily on his curveball in going six scoreless innings, with his final curve of the game perhaps his biggest, getting the dangerous Jose Ramirez to pop out to preserve the 1-0 lead.

The Mets would extend that lead over the next couple of innings. Sanchez came through again in the bottom of the sixth, this time with a sacrifice fly to medium center field to bring home a hustling Pete Alonso. After Brooks Raley pitched a spotless top of the seventh, Brandon Nimmo led off the bottom of the frame by launching one just shy of the Shea Bridge.

Then the top of the eighth inning delivered a gut punch. The Guardians plated one run off of Adam Ottavino thanks via a double and two ground outs. That third out would prove elusive, however, as Steven Kwan would double, followed by an Amed Rosario bloop single that cut the lead to 3-2. Buck Showalter would turn to David Robertson, looking for a four-out save, but this time Ramirez would come through, launching a home run to left center to put Cleveland ahead 4-3.

The suddenly never say die Mets would bounce back immediately, as Brett Baty would lead off the bottom of the frame with a walk and Marte would follow with a two-run home run to the opposite field to put the Mets right back on top. Robertson would get through the bottom of the ninth to preserve the 5-4 victory, as the Mets would take their fourth straight win to push the team back above .500 heading into their night game matchup against Cleveland behind Justin Verlander.

SB Nation GameThreads

Amazin’ Avenue
Covering the Corner

Box scores

MLB.com
ESPN

Win Probability Added

www.fangraphs.com

What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Starling Marte +51.0 WPA
Big Mets loser: David Robertson, -40.0% WPA
Mets pitchers: +61.0% WPA
Mets hitters: -11.0% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Starling Marte two-run home run in bottom of the eighth, +50.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Jose Ramirez two-run home run in top of the eighth, -55.9% WPA