Mets survive scary 9th to start new winning streak in West Sacramento

Mets 7 Athletics 6 (Sutter Health Park, West Sacramento, CA)

Mets record: 9-4

Mets streak: Won 1

WP - Griffin Canning (1-1)

LP -J.P. Sears (1-2)

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.

The bet on himself is paying off. Pete Alonso singled, doubled, homered, drove in a run on a sac fly, and was hit by a pitch to lead the Mets to a 7-6 win on Friday night.

Need to Know

Sutter Health Park is the 63rd ballpark the Mets have played at in their history.
The Mets victory was their 7th in their last eight games.
Griffin Canning was better with his pitch count than he has been all season. But he was tagged in the 6th inning for three runs bringing his final line to 6 and 1/3 innings, giving up four runs on 7 hits and three walks while striking out three hitters. But for Canning, it was his first win in a Mets uniform.
J.P. Sears was the first lefty starter the Mets faced since Opening Day (Framber Valdez). He had a 7.45 ERA against the Mets in two career games coming in to tonight, and the Mets ran his pitch count ran extremely high as he only lasted four innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out seven.
Brandon Nimmo hit his third homer of the year to open the scoring, and Luisangel Acuna finished up at 2-for-4.
Starling Marte hit cleanup for the first time since 2016.
Jacob Wilson's single in the 6th extended his season long hitting streak to 14 games.
Shea Langeliers' two hits brought his lifetime average against the Mets to .500 (15-for-32)

Turning Point

The Mets turned a 6-1 lead into a 6-4 adventure in the 6th as Carlos Mendoza tried to get one more inning out of Canning. But Canning gave up three runs, capped by a two run dinger by Miguel Andujar. Reed Garrett then came in and returned to the ways of the scary Reed Garrett from last season. He gave up a double and two walks to set up a showdown against Tyler Soderstrom with the bases loaded.

Soderstrom hit the ball hard, but thankfully, right at Juan Soto to end the inning.

Three Keys

Up Up And Away Goes The Pitch Count

The Athletics threw 210 pitches on Friday, which sounds insane but it's par for the course with the A's this season. But give the Mets credit for working out some long at-bats against them. In the 5th, Soto and Alonso worked two at-bats in a row which lasted 8 pitches each which led to a run.

Later in the game, Jose Siri worked out a walk on 9 pitches. You know you're throwing a lot of pitches when Siri is working out 9 pitch walks.

Closer To Mint Condition

The Mets have had solid performances from their bullpen all season, and tonight was no different ... at least from the middle relievers. After Garrett's adventure in the 6th, Ryne Stanek had a quiet 7th inning. Even more encouraging was A.J. Minter's 8th where he not only set the Athletics down 1-2-3, but he did so featuring his best cutter of the season.

Minter's return to health and return to form could turn the Mets bullpen from merely very good to a formidable strength.

You Know Who Else Could Turn The Mets Bullpen Into a Strength?

Well, that would be Edwin Diaz. And right now, he's fishing a little bit.

It isn't even so much that he's had control issues, but they're the kind of control issues that evoke memories of Rick Vaughn ... a fictional character formed from caricature. Some of his pitches make you think of Harry Doyle saying "tried the corner and missed" as he missed that corner by three feet.

Thankfully, Diaz got right by the end of the game for the win. But when Gary Cohen attributes his struggles from the last game as a product of the cold, and then he comes out and throws the ball all over the place in the 60 degree comfort of West Sacramento, it's enough to make you worry a bit about when Diaz will find his groove going forward.