Incredible Mets Comeback Extends Winning Streak to 7
The Mets are now winners of seven in a row, thanks to a stirring comeback Friday night against the Rays in St. Petersburg.
The Mets and Ray traded zeros for three innings until Grady Sizemore led off the fourth against Jacob deGrom with a home run to break the scoreless tie.
It was Sizemore again in the sixth, keeping it scoreless with his glove. Wilmer Flores hit a long drive ball towards the corner in left. The odd wall is at an angle there and is in fair territory. It is also a short wall. Well, the ball was clear past the wall, but Sizemore was able to reach over and bring it back to rob Flores of a homer and keep the Rays in the lead.
But in the seventh Juan Uribe hit a ball that no one could reach. It landed deep in the seats in left to tie the game at one. It was Uribe’s third home run with the Mets. After Jake Odorizzi walked Travis d’Arnaud with two outs, he was removed from the game. A pop up ended the inning. Odorizzi went 6.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits. He struck out six and walked one.
But the tie was short-lived. James Loney led off the bottom of the seventh by hitting a bomb into the seats in right to give the Rays a 2-1 lead. After allowing a one-out double, deGrom’s night was over. Eric O’Flaherty came on and hit a batter and got an out. His two appearances with the Mets have not been promising. Bobby Parnell issued a walk to load the bases, but then he got a fly ball to end the inning.
So deGrom had similar numbers to Odorizzi — 6.1 innings, seven strikeouts, no walks and six hits allowed. The big difference, of course, is that two of the hits were home runs. His ERA “skyrocketed” to 2.13.
Daniel Murphy bailed out deGrom in the eighth with a solo home run to tie the game at two.
Tyler Clippard was called on to pitch the eighth, and he allowed a run on — you guessed it — an Evan Longoria solo home run as the Rays took a 3-2 lead.
Lucas Duda led off the ninth with a little dribbler to the left of the mound. Rays closer Brad Boxberger fielded it but threw it away. It went for a single. Duda moved to second on a wild pitch. Uribe was clearly trying to hit to the right side to at least move Duda to third, but he popped up to the first baseman for the first out. Michael Conforto came through, doubling into the gap in left-center to score Duda to tie the game at three. Travis d’Arnaud hit a grounder to second. Logan Forsythe made a great play to keep it in the infield and save a run, but d’Arnaud had a single. With runners on first and third Kelly Johnson hit a liner to short for the second out. Wilmer Flores had the chance to be the hero again and he did it, singling just in front of the diving right fielder to score Conforto and give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Curtis Granderson struck out to end the inning.
The suddenly shaky Jeurys Familia was called on to save the game. Asbrubal Cabrera led off the ninth with a single to center. The Mets then almost got a huge break, turning a double play on a grounder to third that was clearly foul. The play is not challengeable, but the umpires overruled it anyway, which was the correct decision. The Mets finally got that grounder to third, but it was hit too slow to turn two. They settled for the first out at second. Flores made a really nice play to knock down a hard grounder up the middle and get the second out at first. So with a runner on second with two outs, it was up to Curt Casali. Familia struck him out to seal the great comeback and earn his 30th save.
Mets win 4-3.