Mets Comeback To Take Series Over Blue Jays In Rich Hill's Debut
The Mets coughed up a 1-0 lead in Rich Hill's debut, but they fought back against the Blue Jays' bullpen to take the series in a 5-4 win.
Hill's first start as a Met was going swimmingly at first, as he got through five shutout innings with only four hits allowed.
But in the top of the sixth, he found himself in major trouble, when a walk, a hit by pitch and a long single led to a bases loaded jam with nobody out.
This wound up ending Hill's day, as he was pulled in favor of Seth Lugo, who was put in a highly difficult situation to try to climb out of. Although Lugo overpowered Bo Bichette on the first two pitches, he hung a curveball, which resulted in a two-run single to give the Blue Jays their first lead of the day at 2-1.
But that wasn't all. J.D. Davis made a huge error of judgement, as he fielded a potential double play ground ball, and instead of turning two, he tried to throw the runner out at home. Unfortunately, this proved to be unsuccessful, as the run scored to extend the Blue Jays' lead to 3-1 with still nobody out.
However, in the bottom of the sixth, Pete Alonso launched a two-run shot to tie things up at 3-3. Alonso has hit five home runs in nine games since the All-Star break.
And the Mets' bats weren't finished either, as Jeff McNeil, who has been out of the lineup for three straight days with left leg fatigue, came through with a pinch-hit two-run double off old friend Jacob Barnes to give his team the lead back at 5-3.
"Barnesy is someone we know pretty well," said McNeil of facing his old teammate. "He threw me four straight changeups and it was something I was seeing well and I was able to find the gap."
As McNeil also said, it was Alonso's game-tying homer that injected new life into the team.
"It fires us up and gets us back into the game," he said. "Gives us some new life and new energy and we were able to battle back."
McNeil went on to confirm that he expects to be in tomorrow's lineup, after being absent from the lineup for the past three days.
In the top of the eighth, Trevor May entered in relief, but the Blue Jays' offense wouldn't die. May allowed three straight hits, which led to a run, cutting the game to 5-4.
May exited with two outs and the bases loaded, and Aaron Loup came in and did his job to get fellow lefty Cavan Biggio to fly out and end the threat.
This setup a one-run save situation for closer Edwin Diaz in the ninth. And Diaz struck out three Blue Jays' hitters for his 21st save to secure the series win.
The Mets drew first blood in this contest, as Davis doubled and Jonathan Villar knocked him in with an RBI single off Ross Stripling to put the Mets up 1-0 in the bottom of the second.
The Amazins' are now 52-44 on the season. They will begin a five-game series with the Braves on Monday, starting with a doubleheader tomorrow.
