When the 1 hour, 41 minute rain delay during the bottom of the seventh inning of tonight's Mets game began, the Mets had a 2-1 lead with the bases loaded, no outs, and Anthony Recker at the plate. If you stepped away from your television during the delay (as I did), you might have missed the six additional runs the Mets scored in the frame when the tarps came off the field and play resumed. The Mets' seven-run seventh inning unfolded quickly, post-delay at least, and was their highest-scoring inning of the season. There would be no repeat of the tense, 13-inning marathon on Monday night. And thank goodness for that; Mets fans needed a breather.
It was a tight contest until the Mets' big seventh inning. Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin allowed one run through his first six innings of work on a Recker solo home run in the fifth inning. Jeremy Hefner matched Corbin, pitching seven strong innings and allowing only a solo home run to Martin Prado in the top of the seventh inning which tied the game. Then, things fell apart for Corbin in the bottom half of the seventh. David Wright led off with a single, and Marlon Byrd followed with a double to advance Wright to third base. Josh Satin then tallied the biggest hit of the game, an RBI double that scored Wright and gave the Mets a 2-1 lead. After Andrew Brown walked to load the bases, the umpires called for a much-needed rain delay. The infield dirt looked like this at the time:
When play resumed, pretty-good reliever Brad Ziegler took the mound for the D-Backs. The Mets made him look pretty bad, however, as he allowed all three inherited baserunners to score, and was eventually charged with three runs of his own. Recker, Omar Quintanilla, Eric Young Jr., and Juan Lagares all notched run-scoring hits in the frame. It was 8-1 heading into the top of the eighth inning, and a victory for the good guys was all but assured. Quintanilla's RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning capped the scoring. LaTroy Hawkins and Brandon Lyon each pitched a scoreless inning to finish things off.
Hefner continues to impress. He struck out six and walked two in his seven innings, touching 94 mph with his fastball. Hef's velocity has increased as the temperature has increased; his performance has improved as well. His ERA since June 1st is 1.70 in 37 innings pitched, with a terrific 29:7 K/BB ratio. Who saw this coming? Hefner has rebounded nicely after a shaky start to the season and has been a nice find by the front office.
Some bullet thoughts:
- Lagares was thrown out at third base in the sixth inning trying to extend a double into a triple. It ended the inning, with Wright on deck. It appeared that Tim Teufel was waving Lagares on. This seemed like aggressiveness just for the sake of it, and a foolish decision given the on-deck batter and soggy infield dirt.
- After a 2-for-4 night, Recker's OPS is now .658. John Buck's OPS is .653. I won't pretend that Recker is anything special, but I wouldn't mind seeing him get more playing time. Buck looks cooked. Also of note: Recker comes up to bat with the Last of the Mohicans music playing.
- How about Satin? He's now at .390/.510/.561 with several big hits in the last couple of weeks. #HAIL, as they say.
- Daniel Murphy pinch hit tonight and finished 0-for-2. His OPS is down to .702. I'm fairly confident he'll raise it up closer to his career mark of .756, but wouldn't it be nice if Murph could improve his bat as he has his glove? He's 28 years old, now would be a good time to do it.
The Mets are 35-45 and 12.5 games back of the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East. ESPN pegs the Mets' chances of making the playoffs at 3%. Perhaps that percentage will increase after Wednesday's game, as Matt Harvey will take the mound.
Beer of the game: Mount Desert Island Ginger from Atlantic Brewing Company in Bar Harbor, Maine
"Pretty easy and interesting sessionable brew. The ginger is a welcome spiced flavor that is not overdone. It's there but it complements the beer flavors instead of overriding them. Definitely worth trying and as a fan of ginger, I would think you couldn't hope for much better than this out of a ginger spiced beer." -- BeerAdvocate review
SB Nation Coverage
* Amazin' Avenue Gamethread
* AZ Snakepit Gamethread
Win Probability Added
Big winners: Jeremy Hefner +21.4% (as pitcher), Anthony Recker +19.1%
Big losers: Juan Lagares -4.8%, Eric Young Jr. -3.0%
Teh aw3s0mest play: Anthony Recker solo home run in the fifth inning, +17.2%
Teh sux0rest play: Martin Prado solo home run in the seventh inning, -21.6%
Total pitcher WPA: +21.6%
Total batter WPA: +28.4%
GWRBI!: Josh Satin RBI double in the seventh inning