Game 23 of 162
Giants 5 - Mets 4 (Oracle Park, San Francisco)
Mets record: 14-9
Mets streak: Lost 2
WP - Scott Alexander (2-0)
LP - Drew Smith (1-1)
Seat on the Korner:
We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.
A game-winning hit can get you seat on the corner, and that's Mike Yastrzemski's ticket to postgame recognition: an eighth-inning double plating Joc Pederson, who had walked. Honoroble mention to Pederson, who came off the IL with an RBI single in the first and the eighth-inning walk that put him on base to score.
Need to Know
Tylor Megill had a rocky outing, starting with the first batter, a hit by Lamonte Wade Jr. that nearly ended up in McCovey Cove but became a hard-hit single thanks to some solid outfield play by Starling Marte.
The Mets ended their West Coast trip 7-3, one win short of tying their best trip to the Left Coast.
Francisco Alvarez hit a sixth-inning solo home run that tied the score at four, but otherwise had a disappointing day at the plate, grounding into a double play with the bases loaded in the second inning, striking out with the bases loaded in the fourth and striking out to lead off the ninth.
Jeff Brigham pitched an impressive two innings in relief of Megill, striking out four.
After a day off, the Mets return home to face the Nationals for three, starting Tuesday. The Braves come in on the weekend.
Turning Point
In a back-and-forth game, it's easy to say the turning point was the gane-winning hit by Mike Yastrzemski, but a case could be made that it was Francisco Alvarez' double play groundout in the second at a time when the Mets could have blown the game open. It seemed uphill from there. Tylor Megill giving back the run the Mets did score the next inning with a home run ball to Thairo Estrada didn't help, either.
Three Keys
Giants manager Gabe Kapler packed his lineup with lefties, aware of Megill's difficulties against them: while Megill had held righties to a .163 batting average, lefties were hitting .324 . The Giants lefties feasted on Megill; even the outs were hard-hit.
Giants relief pitcher Tyler Rogers (not to be confused with Giants reliever Taylor Rogers, who preceded him), confused all of the Mets batters except for Francisco Alvarez with his Dan Quisenberry-channeling underarm delivery. Three more relievers followed, stymying the Mets' bats.
Drew Smith once again proved the old adage that leadoff walks come back to haunt you, in this case, the one to Joc Pederson in the bottom of the eighth thst proved to be the winning run.
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