Mets Walk It Off 3-2; Sweep 2-Game Series from Yanks

July 28, 2022 paperbacklou 2022 0

Domingo German did his job.

Lucas Luetge did his job.

Jonathan Loaisiga did his job.

Clay Holmes did his job.

And Gleyber Torres certainly did his job.

But Wandy Peralta‘s Magic Wand wasn’t working — like when Uncle Martin’s antenna were stuck in his head, or Bewitched couldn’t wiggle her nose.

And the Mets walked it off in the bottom of the 9th on a Starling Marte 1-out single with a runner on 3rd.

Mets 3 Yankees 2 — and the Mets sweep the 2-game series. On a beautiful, warm, 80-degree Wednesday evening at Citifield in Queens.

The Yankees drop to 66-33; the Mets improve to 61-37.

Right after the game, the Yankees announced they had acquired Andrew Benintendi from Kansas City for 3 minor leaguers (see Etcetera section below) and that changed the whole tone of the post-game interviews.

“It’s fake news that we have too many power hitters; too many sluggers; that’s fake,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “We got savages in the lineup. Really good hitters. Benintendi is a Great hitter. Gets on base at a really high clip. Hits from the left side. So yeah… gives you some balance. If we get him, that’s another really good big league hitter to add to the mix that’s going to lengthen the lineup and give you the balance that you look for.”

1. Domingo Hangs In Against Scherzer

Max Scherzer started for the Mets, and he kept the Yankee bats at bay for 7 shutout innings, even though the Yanks were hitting some hard shots off him and getting men on base.

Yankee Twitter couldn’t understand Domingo German getting the start, and there was a lot of gloom and doom coming into this one. German had allowed 5 runs in 3 innings in his previous start — his first start in a year.

But Yankee Twitter was forgetting that last year at this time almost to the day — July 26th, 2021 — German pitched a no hitter into the 8th against Boston. He lost the no hitter in the 8th and Loaisiga blew the win. That start cost German — he was pulled in his very next start after 4 innings vs Miami with a shoulder problem that would keep him out the next 2 months. And this year in Spring training he went out with another shoulder issue.

He was brilliant in his rehab starts this year in A-AA-AAA — pitching to a 0.49 ERA; 20 innings, 9 hits.

And thus he got the start in this one against the Mets.

German allowed a homerun to Pete Alonso in the 2nd inning — just over the wall in left — for a 1-0 Mets lead.

And German allowed a 2-out RBI single to Francisco Lindor in the 3rd to make it 2-0 Mets.

But that was it. He didn’t allow the Mets another run, leaving with 2 outs in the 5th after walking Lindor. German did his job.

2. Luetge Did His Job

Lucas Luetge came in and was brilliant. He got the last out of the 5th and pitched into the 7th — 2 shutout innings, striking out 2. But with 2 outs in the 7th, he allowed a single to Starling Marte — the formerly suspended-for-PED-use outfielder who killed the Yanks in this series. Boone brought in Jonathan Loaisiga to face Lindor.

3. Loaisiga Did His Job

And Loaisiga did his job — getting Lindor to pop out to shortstop to end the 7th.

5. Gleyber HR Ties It!

The Yankees had been hitting the ball hard off Scherzer all night and getting some runners on but could not come up with the big hit.

  • Josh Donaldson had led off the 5th with a booming double off Scherzer, and Kyle Higashioka later walked — but with 2 out, 1st and 2nd, DJ LeMahieu hit a SHOT that was caught by Lindor — as LeMahieu threw his bat across the field.
  • Isiah Kiner-Falefa ripped a 1-out double off Scherzer in the 7th, and the Yanks had 1st and 3rd with 2 out, but Scherzer struck out Aaron Judge.
  • Gleyber Torres especially had hit the ball hard all night with nothing to show for it also.

But in the 8th, the Mets took out Scherzer and replaced him with reliever David Peterson. Anthony Rizzo led off the 8th with a walk, and Gleyber Torres hit a shot to the opposite field right for a 2-run homer and tie game!

4. Holmes Did His Job

With the game tied 2-2, Aaron Boone brought in Clay Holmes for the 8th, to pitch to the heart of the Mets order. Holmes got Pete Alonso to ground out, walked Daniel Vogelbach, but then got Mark Canha to ground out — advancing pinch runner Travis Jankowski to 2nd.

With 2 outs and the very tough Jeff McNeil up — Holmes induced a tough grounder to the infield that Gleyber Torres made a terrific play on for the final out.

6. Wandy’s Wand Doesn’t Work

But Wandy Peralta‘s magic wand wasn’t working. He allowed a leadoff double to Edwin Escobar, who was sacrified to 3rd base. With one out an infield single back to Peralta didn’t plate the run but put runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out. Wandy needed some magic out of his wand — a strikeout or a double play.

But Starling Marte — Yankee Killer in this series — singled to left for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • Aaron Judge didn’t quite do his job — going 0-5 on the night and striking out 5 times against Scherzer which had Mets Twitter crowing.
  • Right after the game, the Yankees announced that they had traded for Andrew Benintendi — sending 3 prospects to Kansas City: right-handed pitcher Chandler Champlain, left-handed pitcher T.J. Sikkema and right-handed pitcher Beck Way.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355694

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