Let the celebration begin the San Francisco Giants Roc Pederson (23) and Brandon Crawford (35) jump for joy after Crawford’s walk off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth scores Darrin Ruf at Oracle Park in San Francisco against the New York Mets on Tue May 24, 2022 (San Francisco Giants twitter photo)
New York (NL). 12. 18. 0
San Francisco. 13. 19. 0
Tuesday May 24, 2022
By Lewis Rubman
SAN FRANCISCO–Before the Mets came to town, I asked James and Max Wood, my Massachusetts Mets Mavens, what they could expect from the National League East’s first place team.
Max wrote, “The person on the Mets I’d pay the most attention to is Pete Alonso. Since the start of this month, he’s hitting over .300, has hit 6 homers, and has an OPS of close to 1.000.” James commented,
The Mets are playing all-around great ball so far. Aggressive but smart on the bases. Consistent fielding. Pitching has been solid, even without Jacob DeGrom.
As far as specific players:
-utility infielder Luis Guillorme is red-hot at the plate and in the field. His last 10 games (with an at-bat) he’s 14 for 32 (.438).
-Brandon Nimmo (CF) leads off and is my favorite player on the team. Runs hard on EVERYTHING (including HRs and BBs!).
-Jeff McNeil (2B and LF mostly) is also a scrappy player who hits the ball everywhere.
-I guess with DeGrom and Max Scherzer out, Pete Alsonzo is their “superstar” (sorry, Francisco Lindor). Aside from how far he can hit the ball, he’s also just fun to watch—young, enthusiastic, and friendly. He’s not Keith Hernandez, but I think he’s quite good at first. Easily the best Met there since John Olerud (but that’s not saying much).
Well, all the mentioned players who appeared in Wednesday night’s 13-3 rout of the Giants performed as Alex Wood had expected. Brandon Nimmo went two for five; Pete Alonso, three for five with three runs batted in; and Jeff McNeill, two for four with two ribbies.
Game recap: So you can see that Logan Webb, coming into the game with a record 5-1,3.54 after his frustrating last start, when the bullpen blew his 5-2 lead against the Rockies, faced a daunting task in front of him when he threw his first pitch, a ball, at 6:45.
Ex-A’s keep coming to Oracle to haunt win starved Oakland fans. Tonight, two of the three ghosts of glory (or at least contention) past were Starling Marte, playing in right field, and Mark Canha, in left. The other was Chris Bassitt, taking the mound to start for the team from Queens.
Bassitt had been mediocre in his start, lasting 6-1/3 innings and yielding four earned runs on nine hits, two of the four base variety, escaping with a non decision that left his record at 4-2, 2.77. The 33 year old righty has a large arsenal of pitches.
It features, in descending order of frequency, a sinker, slider, cutter, four seamer, curve, and change of pace. He uses his favorite pitch about 27% of the time.
When it was all over, the Giants had outlasted the Mets, defeating them 13-12 in a contest that defies description and may well have caused heart attacks all around the Bay Area and in the households of east coasters who stayed up late to listen to or watch the game.
Another ex Athletic, Tommy LaStella, led off against Bassitt in the bottom of the second with a single to short. MikeYastrzemski’s double into the left field corner put two runners in scoring position with none down.
Darin Ruf’s grounder to short scored LaStella, but neither Joc Pederson nor Brandon Crawford enabled Yaz any further advancement.
McNeill opened the top of the second with a rifle shot down the right field line that Ruf’s dive just missed blocking. Then Eduardo Escobar took an 0-2 pitch into right for a single that put runners on the corners.
Canha’s single to center knotted the score at one, and there it stood after Dominic Smith forced Canha out at second, Tomás Nido grounded out to Web, and Nimmo ended the frame with a soft liner to short.
Lightening struck in the home third. With one out, Yastrzemski walked. Ruf fanned on three pitches, and then Pederson took Bassitt´s first offering, an 87 mph cutter, 363 feet deep and over the right field wall. San Francisco was up again, this time 3-1.
The home team continued attacking in the fourth. With one down, Luis González bounced a double off the right field wall. Kevin Padlo grounded out to second, allowing González to take third. Michael Papierski, batting in the ninth position and still looking for his first big league hit, did his bit by walking.
With the count at 2-1, Bassitt threw him a 93 mph four seamer, an LaStella deposited it 347 feet away, over the wall in right. Suddenly, the Giants had six runs on the board, and they led by five.
The Mets got one of those runs back in the top of the fifth. Catcher Thomas Nido led off with a single to center and moved on to second when Nimmmo was hit by a pitch.
Marte hit into what crew chief and first base umpire James Hoye thought was a 6-4-3 double play, but the review crew in New York disabused him of that misapprehension, and Marte was ruled safe at first. The force out left Nido on third base, from which he scored on Lindor’s sacrifice fly to center.
That run, while drawing the Mets closer, did little to turn the tide because Ruf opened the home fifth with a single to left center, and Roc Pederson went yard with his eighth round tripper of the year, a no doubter that carried 436 feet into right. It came on a 93 mph sinker
Bassitt fanned Crawford on a full count for the first out of the frame, issued a walk to Thairo Estrada and then went to the showers. His replacement was Stephen Nogosek, who struck out Luis González and Kevin Padlo to end the episode.
Bassitt had lasted 4-1/3 innings and allowed eight runs, all of them earned, on eight hits, three of them four baggers, and three walks. He struck out four. His pitch total was 92, 52 of them strikes. His ERA rose to 3.91.
Webb didn’t come out to pitch the sixth. In his five innings of work, he held the Mets to two runs, both earned, on five hits, a walk, and a hit batter. He threw 93 pitches, 63 for strikes, and lowered his ERA by a tiny amount to 3.54. Jarlín García replaced him and, in spite of a one out double to Escobar, held New York scoreless in his inning before yielding to Dominic Leone at the top of the seventh.
Facing Leone, Francisco Lindor cut into the Giants´ lead. After Marte beat out the throw on a two out grounder to third, the Mets´shortstop sent a 95 mph four seamer into the seats above the Levi’s Landing sign in right to make the score 8-4, San Francisco.
Tyler Rogers brought his magical spinning bag of sidearm tricks to the mound in the New York eighth, but none of them seemed to work. McNeil singled to right and went to second on an Escobar single to left center. Canha hit a squeakily grounder to third that, perhaps because of the strange spin on Rogers’ pitches, Padlo couldn’t handle.
Drew Smith sent a solid single to right center, scoring McNeil and Escobar, and Canha reached third. With the score now 8-6, Luis Guillorme rounded to first, Ruf threw home, and Papierski threw to Padlo at third, who tagged Canha for the first out of the inning. Nimmo got an infield single.
Starling Marte hit a grounder to third, and it looked like a throwing error on the throw to second that allowed. Nimmo to reach that base and Marte to be safe at first. It was ruled a hit. Lindor hit a liner, Pederson fell over himself trying to field it, and the Mets’ shortstop was on third with a bases clearing triple.
He scored on a sac fly by Alonso. McNeil and Escobar singled, and Camilo Doval replaced Rogers, who had pitched 1/3 of an inning and allowed seven runs, all of them earned, on seven hits. Doval got Canha to ground out to short to stop the massacre
Drew Smith was given the task of preserving New York’s three run lead in the bottom of the eighth. He breezed through the first two batters he faced but then yielded a single to Yaz and walked Ruf. All of a sudden, Pederson was at the plate representing the potential tying run. All of a sudden, he scored it, with a splash hit, no less! On a 98 mph four seamer. Exit Smith, enter Joely Rodríguez.
Crawford lined back to him, the ball bounced to third, and Crawford beat Escobar’s throw to first. Estrada followed with a single to right. Crawford rounded second and had to scramble back to beat Marte’s throw to the bag. González grounded to second.
McNeil got his glove on it but couldn’t control it, and Gonazález’s infield hit loaded the bases. Exit, Rodríguez, enter Adam Ottavino, wearing number zero. He struck Padlo out, and we went into the ninth tied at eleven.
Believe me, I’m not making this up. (But I am having a tough time following it).
John Brebbia, pitching for SF in the ninth, was greeted by a triple (surprise!) by Dominic Smith. Travis Jankowski ran for him and scored on Nimmo’s sac fly to left. Marte grounded out to short.
The Giants were down to their last three outs.
Edwin Díaz strolled in from the bull pen to try to earn the save.
Wilmer Flores singled to ccnter.
LaStella grounded into a double play, second to short to first.
Mike Yastrzemski came to bat. He worked a full count.
He walked.
Darin Ruf singled to right, moving Yaz into scoring position at second.
The Mets huddled on the mound.
Joc Pederson stood in the batter´s box. He took a strike.
He took a ball that almost hit him on his front knee.
He singled to center, scoring Yastrzemski, tying the game, and moving Ruf to second.
Crawford laced a 2-2 pitch into left, Ruf rounded third and headed home
He slid between catcher Patrick Mazeika’s legs with the winning run.
John Brebbia got the win. He’s 2-0, 2.70. Díaz got charged with the loss. He’s 1-1, 2.89.
The rubber game of this amazing series is scheduled to start at 6:45 the Mets will start left hand pitcher Thomas Szapucki (0-0, 0.00) the Giants will go with Jakob Junis (1-1,2.70) at Oracle Park.
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