New York Mets Third Baseman Eduardo Escobar Records Much-Needed Walk-Off Hit
Although this New York Mets third baseman has endured a prolonged rough path offensively to begin his first season in Queens, he delivered when his team needed him the most on Sunday Night Baseball.
In the bottom of the 10th, the Mets' red-hot first baseman Pete Alonso was walked for the third time in this game by the Phillies' pitching staff, which setup first-and-second with one out for the struggling Eduardo Escobar.
Despite Escobar's anemic triple slash in the month of May (.202/.252/.309), he took exception to Philadelphia's strategy of pitching around Alonso all night to face him, and it helped him come up clutch to lift his club to a 5-4 walk-off victory in extra innings.
“Three times today they walked Pete Alonso and faced me,” Escobar told reporters. “Baseball gives you an opportunity all the time. One swing changed everything and made my day.”
Escobar went 1-for-5 with two RBIs in this game. His lone hit of the contest was the most important one, as it resulted in a Mets victory and three-game sweep of the Phillies. This was the team's first sweep of 2022.
“Nobody pushes harder than [Escobar] does,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s got so much ‘want to’ that sometimes it gets in the way. He’s got a good track record that we’re going to trust and he’s as good a professional as you can want on a club.”
After Adam Ottavino blew a save, surrendering a go-ahead three-run home run to Nick Castellanos, 25-year-old outfielder Nick Plummer, who was just recalled from Triple A Syracuse, tied the game in the ninth on a solo blast into the upper deck in right field for his first career big-league hit. This setup Escobar's heroics in extras.
Overall, Escobar is slashing .225/.311/.361 with a .672 OPS, two homers and 14 RBIs on the year. However, the 33-year-old is batting .321 with five RBIs in his last seven games, which is a good sign for an already surging Mets' offense.
The Mets have gone 9-3 against the Phillies this season. New York is 32-17 and leads the NL East by 8.5 games, which is an MLB-high.
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