Mets Top 10 Wins of 2016, #1 – September 22 against Phillies

Recap

With RHP Seth Lugo starting the game, Curtis Granderson gave him a 2-0 lead with a home run off the right field foul pole in the bottom of the second against LHP Adam Morgan.

The Phillies got one back in the top of the fourth after a leadoff triple by Cesar Hernandez and a groundout by Roman Quinn.

The Mets couldn’t tack anything on in their bottom half, and the lead changed quickly in the fifth. Ryan Howard tied the game with a solo shot, followed by a 3-2 deficit-inducing homer by Cameron Rupp.

The Mets immediately responded. Though Alejandro De Aza struck out swinging, Ty Kelly took a walk. Jose Reyes brought the stands to their feet but it died in deep center field. Asdrubal Cabrera singled him over to second, and Kelly took third on a subsequent wild pitch with Cespedes up. Low and behold, he tied the game with a single.

The Mets went to the bullpen in the top of the sixth, with LHP Sean Gilmartin, RHP Erik Goeddel, and RHP Fernando Salas pitching a clean two innings.

In the bottom of the seventh with two out, Jose Reyes took a walk, moving to third on Cabrera’s following single. That brought up Yo, the three of them seeming to be the offensive formula in the last six weeks of the season. Yo Yo’d to give the Mets a 4-3 lead.

RHP Addison Reed took his usual spot in the eighth, but didn’t have his best stuff. A leadoff single, a sac bunt, and another single made it runners on the corners for Maikel Franco. The impressive young player silenced Mets fans with a 3-run home run to give the Phillies a 6-4 lead. After a walk, Robles was brought in to bail Addison out.

After a quiet bottom of the eighth for the Mets, Robles and LHP Josh Edgin combined to keep the Phillies off the board in the ninth. The Phillies brought in Jeanmar Gomez to try to close things out.

Brandon Nimmo hit a pinch hit single to lead off the ninth, bringing up Jay Bruce to attempt for his first big moment as a Met. It didn’t happen, but a swinging strikeout did. That brought up Jose Reyes, who was locked in for the at bat. Boom.

The Mets couldn’t finish it off that inning, but certainly woke the crowd up.

RHP Jeurys Familia had clean tenth inning and in the bottom half, Lucas Duda, relegated to pinch-hitting duties since his return from the DL, almost did the unthinkable.

Alas, it went foul, and the Mets would play another inning.

Familia did not have it in the eleventh, giving up a leadoff double to Freddy Galvis. Though he struck Aaron Altherr out, Galvis moved over to third on a groundout from Tommy Joseph. They intentionally walked Cesar Hernandez to get to A.J. Ellis, but that backfired and he burned us again as he did back in August against Robles. The single made it 7-6 and Familia was replaced by LHP Jerry Blevins.

Blevins walked the only batter he faced to load the bases, and RHP Jim Henderson was relegated to mop-up duty. He walked a batter too, making it 8-6 Phillies, but was able to get the last out of the inning.

Brandon Nimmo unfortunately grounded out to start the bottom half, but Michael Conforto took and walk before Jose Reyes singled. Asdrubal Cabrera stepped up to the plate, ever so hot since coming off the DL in August. With a multi-hit game already in his pocket, he put the frosting on the cake with a drive to the right field, field level party seats.

The Mets were glorious victors, a batflip for the ages ingrained in our cranium for all time. The home run brought the Mets to 81-72, they kept pace with the Giants who won, and took a game lead over the Cardinals, who lost.