Dominic Smith's Four-Hit Night Helps Mets Win Seventh Consecutive Series To Begin Season
NEW YORK -- With his roster spot in potential danger when the Mets cut down from 28 to 26 players prior to the noon deadline on Monday, Dominic Smith made the team's upcoming decision even more difficult on Sunday.
The Mets beat the Phillies by a score of 10-6 in the rubber game of their series on Sunday Night Baseball, and Smith's bat was at the forefront of this victory. Smith went 4-for-4 with three RBIs to help the Mets extend their franchise record to seven consecutive series victories to open up the regular season.
With the Mets trailing by a run in the bottom of the fourth inning, Smith roped an RBI double into the right field corner off of Phillies starter Zach Eflin to the tie the game at 3-3. After the Mets took a 4-3 lead on a passed ball in the following inning, Smith came to the dish to face his former nemesis Jose Alvarado with runners on second-and-third and two outs.
For those who don't recall, Smith had a dust up with Alvarado last season, which led to a benches clearing incident between the Mets and Phillies. But It's a new year, and Smith came through with a two-run single off of Alvarado to extend the Mets' lead to 6-3.
Entering this contest, Smith was just 6-for-36 with four RBIs on the season. The 26-year-old has received irregular playing time this year, with most of his action coming at first base or as the designated hitter across 19 games.
“I try to focus in on the little things," Smith said after the game. "When you don’t have consistent at-bats, It’s kind’ve unfair to yourself if you only base your success on getting base hits. So I try to really focus on having good at-bats and swinging at good pitches. Sometimes, I don’t get hits. But if I hit the ball hard, I feel like It’s a good at-bat.”
Smith, whose remaining minor league options make him a candidate to be sent down when rosters go back to 26 players on Monday, says he hasn't thought about what might happen ahead of the noon deadline tomorrow.
"It’s just the business of baseball and one of those things that’s out of my control," Smith said. "All I can do is what I did tonight, which is help the team win and try to put together good at-bats.”
Regardless, someone has to go on Monday, and Smith acknowledged that it will be an emotional day, no matter who it is, given the tight knit team the Mets have built.
The Mets scored three more runs in the bottom of the seventh via a Pete Alonso RBI single and two-run hit from Starling Marte, increasing their total to nine. In addition to Smith, Marte had three RBIs on the evening as well.
And in the bottom of the eighth, Jeff McNeil matched Smith with his fourth hit of the night on an RBI double to extend the Mets' lead to 10-4. This was McNeil's ninth four-hit game of his career.
The Mets' offense combined for 10 runs on 15 hits and went 6-for-16 with runners in scoring position in this contest.
Although Mets starter Max Scherzer wasn't his usual dominant self, allowing four runs on five hits and three home runs, he still managed to strike out nine and pickup his fourth win of the season.
The 37-year-old is 4-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 42 strikeouts across five starts to begin his Mets career.
Scherzer struck out the first five hitters he faced on the night. But once he reached the sixth batter, Met killer Kyle Schwarber greeted him with a solo blast.
Despite going 0-for-12 against the Mets when these two teams last played each other a few weeks ago, Schwarber homered twice off of Scherzer after going deep the night before. Schwarber now has 12 home runs against the Mets dating back to the start of last season.
Reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper had a solo shot of his own against Scherzer in the top of the sixth to cut the deficit to two-runs. But the Mets continued to tack on runs and the Phillies were unable to makeup the difference.
Joely Rodriguez and Seth Lugo combined for two scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Righty Yoan Lopez allowed a two-run homer to Johan Camargo in the ninth, but was still able to lockdown the victory.
The Mets are now 16-7 on the season and will begin a four-game set with the defending World Series Champion, and bitter NL East rival, Atlanta Braves on Monday.
Read More:
- Buck Showalter Breaks Down Mets' Upcoming Roster Decisions
- Mets' Taijuan Walker Produces Strong Outing In Return From IL
- Tylor Megill, Mets' Bullpen Throw Combined No-Hitter In Win Over Phillies
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