With the Mets’ active roster in shambles and the 40-man running on fumes after being topped off this winter, all that depth has proven worth its weight in gold. Or whatever Steve Cohen trades in.
Cameron Maybin was acquired from the Cubs for cash considerations on Tuesday, hoping to fill the gaps in the absence of some very instrumental cogs in this engine.
The 34-year-old’s cost was minimal, per the SNY broadcast, as Chicago was apparently extremely helpful in securing Maybin another shot at a major league job. Stand-up move.
He was optioned to Triple-A Syracuse so reinforcements are on the way, but the Mets were left facing Atlanta on Tuesday with their Bench Mob now in a leading role.
Among the Mets’ “regulars”, only Pete Alonso, Dominic Smith, and Francisco Lindor were in the lineup. Notably, Tomas Nido, fresh off a 3-for-4 night on Monday, was back in the lineup for a second straight game.
James McCann, mired in a season-long slump at the plate (.208/.269/.250 in 104 plate appearances), may find himself settling into a shared-time role as long as Nido (.350/.435/.550, 176 wRC+ over 23 PA in May) continues to hit.
So all that, and it was a bullpen night. Again. What, us worry?
Miguel Castro breezed through the first on 11 pitches, striking out Ronald Acuna Jr. on a ridiculous slider that, per Statcast, came in spinning at 2,995 RPM with 35 inches of vertical drop and 11 inches of horizontal movement. Just sick.
Right-hander Tommy Hunter took the hill in the second, putting up a perfect frame of his own, then helped out his own cause with a base hit in the bottom half of the inning, his first MLB hit in five career plate appearances.
Jonathan Villar made that count with a 105.6 MPH, 425-foot two-run shot off Atlanta righty Tucker Davidson, his third of the season, staking New York to an early 2-0 advantage.
Hunter struck out three in a scoreless third keeping his season line clean (four hits, six strikeouts, three walks) through four appearances. That will most certainly do.
Hunter appears to be yet another waiver-wire win for this new Mets front office. Keep em’ coming, Zack. This team needs all the capable help they can find.
After a scoreless fourth, Robert Gsellman gave up Austin Riley’s second home run of the series in the fifth, cutting the Mets’ lead to 2-1.
Gsellman has been generally solid this season, entering the night with a 2.77 ERA over nine appearances (13 innings, seven strikeouts, five walks). That number inflated to 3.00 upon his exit.
A little more command could take him to another level and give Luis Rojas yet another leg to stand on late in games. Always helpful.
Pete Alonso’s sacrifice fly in the sixth scored Francisco Lindor (leadoff double) to get the run back, making it a 3-1 game, and Rojas tabbed Trevor May, coming off his first home run allowed this season on Monday, to keep Atlanta at bay.
Not quite. Wholesome Mets’ nemesis Freddie Freeman authoritatively took May deep to start the inning and the lead was back to one.
Following a stretch of 12 scoreless appearances (April 6 to May 8), May’s been touched up considerably over his last three outings (two doubles, a triple, two home runs). Let’s hope that’s a short-lived trend.
Newcomer Khalil Lee did all he could to help May along, keeping Ozzie Albies’ liner out of the gap with a terrific diving grab in right later in the sixth.
Plays like this keep a team afloat, whether through the macro lens (all the injuries) or micro (May’s mini rough patch).
Aaron Loup was called on to face Riley, William Contreras, and former Mets’ outfielder Guillermo Heredia — three right-handed batters — in the seventh and worked perfectly, striking out two in the frame.
His .264/.332/.423 career slash against versus righties (.263/.318/.368 in 2021) made the move a bit curious, but no harm, no foul.
Loup came back out for the eighth to face pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza, who stretched a leadoff single into a double with a beautiful slide around Lindor’s tag, putting the tying run in scoring position for Atlanta with none out.
Jeurys Familia (2.84 ERA entering the night), who was warming up in the seventh, was now instead tabbed to face Acuna and Freeman with the tying run in scoring position. High drama.
Familia walked Acuna and got Freeman to ground into a 4-4-3 double play, bringing Marcell Ozuna to the plate with the tying run on third, who poked a broken-bat single into shallow right to knot the game at three.
We’ve noted many times here over the last week, limiting high-leverage spots should be the impetus behind these decisions. Again, not the case.
Ideally, allowing Familia to start the frame as opposed to him coming in with a runner in scoring position against three of the best hitters in the league would have been the prudent move.
How things would have shaken out from there is unknown, but the dynamic of matchups versus Acuna and Freeman change drastically without a duck on the pond. It’s conceivable Ozuna doesn’t even reach the box.
Again, arguably an avoidable setback. But, again, no worries, baby.
Tomas Nido, shooting for that starting backstop job in earnest, took left-hander Will Smith deep with two outs in the top of the ninth, giving the Mets a 4-3 lead and extending the legend of the Bench Mob even further.
Edwin Diaz, working his third consecutive game, entered to shut things down in the ninth and did so tremendously, striking out two in a perfect frame.
Mets pitchers — in a bullpen game, no less — struck out 15 Atlanta hitters on Tuesday.
Without everyone, the bats barely missed a beat. In the face of everything, this team just doesn’t quit. We absolutely love to see all of it.
Mets go for the sweep at 7:20 PM EST on Wednesday. New York hasn’t announced a starter as of publishing. Keep it locked.
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Looks like Peterson is set to start, hopefully he gives us a lot of innings since I imagine the bullpen will be short.
LFGM!