From Family Business to Family Affair
The energy appears to be shifting among this group...
The New York Mets woke up Saturday with something to laugh about, even if the outside narrative that was built had more of a circus feel to it.
Though, without a win on Saturday to follow up their in-game team-building activities on Friday, those smiles wouldn’t linger. No worries on that front.
With a gap in their rotation, the Mets went with a group effort on Saturday night versus the Diamondbacks. That course of action worked out swimmingly.
Right-hander Tommy Hunter got the opening nod on a designated Metsies bullpen night and performed terrifically, turning in two scoreless, hitless innings of work on 17 pitches (13 strikes).
The Mets selected the contract of the 34-year-old journeyman on Thursday, one day ahead of the opt-out in the minor-league deal Hunter signed with the team in February.
Over his first four innings of duty (two innings Friday, two innings Saturday; no runs allowed), the 14-year veteran is proving his mettle. You can’t put too much weight into two appearances, but it’s certainly an encouraging start.
In 2020 with Philadelphia (24 appearances), none of Hunter’s four pitches (sinker, cutter, curve, four-seam) registered a weighted on-base average higher than .311. That’s gonna play.
Joey Lucchesi took the ball in the third and worked around two two-out baserunners, striking out Christian Walker on a perfectly placed, front-knee sinker to escape the jam.
Two two-out walks were all the Mets could muster against Arizona righty Merrill Kelly over the first two innings but the fuse was lit in the third. Boom, baby.
Lucchesi drew a leadoff walk — walking the leadoff batter who also happens to be the pitcher is baseball sacrilege to the second power — and Jeff McNeiltanked one into the bullpen to put New York up 2-0.
Check out Francisco Lindor all amped up in the on-deck circle. Oh, we love to see that. Especially after Friday night’s excitement.
Even more impressive was Lindor swiping second (walked after McNeil’s homer) with Dominic Smith at the plate and two outs and scampering all the way home on an errant throw that bounced off his heel and into no-man’s-land in shallow left field.
The energy is up folks. That’s a beautiful thing.
Mets GM Zack Scott spoke with the media on Saturday afternoon regarding the tunnel incident and its fallout, brushing it off as an internal matter while slightly lamenting the rat/raccoon story and it taking on a life of its own.
As we noted here on Saturday, whatever happened happened. That’s family business.
Back to the field. Kevin Pillar, who’d made two sterling plays in centerfield already, led off the bottom of the fourth with a double past Peralta in left field.
As nice as Pillar’s contributions have been (.370/.393/.667 over his last 27 at-bats), that wasn’t even the most welcome sight of the frame. Jonathan Villar’s groundout in the next at-bat appeared to be an intentional attempt to move the runner along.
Good fundies? In this economy? Pillar was left stranded at third, but still. Gotta love situational hitting.
Lindor doubled with one out in the fifth and was also left on base, but the $341 million man’s turnaround appears to have commenced. Since snapping his 0-for-26 slide in the ninth inning on Thursday, Lindor’s 4-for-8 with a homer and a double.
Moving right along.
Young Fuego would continue to roll, working scoreless through the fifth. But, curiously, Rojas decided to stick with Lucchesi heading into the sixth.
We’ve learned from his short experience in Queens that, no matter how good Lucchesi’s throwing, once guys see him a time or two, affording them the chance to look past that funky delivery, his effectiveness diminishes.
Opposing batters have hit .312 with a .943 OPS the third time seeing Lucchesi over his career. He didn’t get that far, but the same logic applies. Get it while you can then get outta there.
The Mets got three solid innings out of him. Allowing him to start the sixth, in hindsight, was a half-baked plan and nearly had dire consequences.
Rojas singled to start the frame, Walker singled to move runners to the corners with none out, and Peralta’s groundout cut the Mets’ lead to 3-1.
Jeurys Familia — who’s been outstanding so far this season (1.13 ERA entering the night) — cleaned up the mess with consecutive strikeouts of Asdrubal Cabrera and Eduardo Escobar, but why take the chance?
Aside from the Mets not allowing a hit entering the inning, which would have been fun, protecting the lead — the primary objective, especially as this team tries to find their way — was put in jeopardy.
Questionable call, but no harm, no foul.
Let’s take a quick break to watch Familia drop a bedeviling slider on an unsuspecting Escobar for that third and final out of the sixth, shall we? (via @PitchingNinja).
Familia came back out for seventh, navigating three two-out singles to close out his evening cleanly and drop his ERA to an economic 0.93 on the year.
Sticking with Familia through 37 pitches had its worrisome moments, but mission accomplished. He’s been a pleasant surprise this season. Rojas really needs to walk the line with him to maximize his effect.
The Mets extended their lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the seventh. Jeff McNeil reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second, and came home at full speed on Lindor’s broken-bat blooper into centerfield. All good things.
Aaron Loup allowed his first earned run of the season in the eighth (Stephen Vogt RBI single; 1.03 ERA for Loup over his first 11 appearances) but kept the lead intact, leaving a two-run cushion and the Mets’ three-game winning streak in the right hand of Trevor May.
Kelly stroked one past Lindor to start the frame and bring the tying run to the plate, but May (1.88 ERA, 0.79 FIP entering the night) quashed that uprising in short order, closing out the night in fantastic fashion.
Four in a row. Jacob deGrom pitching a day game on Sunday. Things are looking up, friends. LFGM.
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You're right that Lucchesi seems destined for the bullpen once the staff is at full strength, but I can understand trying to squeeze an extra inning out of him in a bullpen game - especially after Peterson's short start.