Wonderful and Awful

The Mets won a misbegotten mess of a game against the Pirates Monday night, a contest simultaneously wonderful and awful, with eerily parallel mistakes ahead of a Mets closing kick that left you asking, “Wasn’t there an easier way to get here?”

Nothing seemed all that stange in the early innings, as David Peterson (excellent) dueled Paul Skenes (not otherworldly but also excellent) to a near-draw. Skenes surrendered one run on exchange-places doubles by Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil; Peterson surrendered one on a solo shot by Isiah Kiner-Falefa and another when Jared Triolo scored off Jose Butto, with the run going on Peterson’s account because he was the guy who’d walked him.

Triolo’s seventh-inning trip around the bases was a strange one: walk, steal, advance on a disengagement violation (AKA Butto not getting him on a third pickoff attempt), score on a fielder’s choice. But at least he came all the way around: In the fifth, Triolo was on second with two outs when Ke’Bryan Hayes hit a grounder that glanced off Brett Baty‘s glove and spun its way across the outfield grass, one of those hideous little plays that kills us at Soilmaster Stadium every other season. Triolo, though, came a little ways around third, hesitated and allowed the Mets to regroup, then was stranded a batter later.

The bottom of the seventh was a weird mirror image. Pirates reliever Caleb Ferguson hit pinch-hitter Tyrone Taylor (who’s always in the middle of everything) in the foot, sending him to first. Taylor stole second, arriving just ahead of a strong throw from Henry Davis, then took third on an infield single from Luisangel Acuna, with Acuna’s margin between safe and out at first maybe a tenth of an inch.

Francisco Lindor struck out, but Juan Soto hit a strange cue-shot grounder to first to bring home Taylor with the tying run. Next came Pete Alonso, who hit a grounder off the glove of Hayes that wound up spinning on the outfield grass. Yes, the same Hayes who’d hit the grounder off fellow third baseman Baty’s glove. Like Triolo, Acuna hesitated briefly after rounding third, but was quickly reminded of his scampering duties by Mike Sarbaugh and hurried homeward, with Nimmo lying on his belly as a visual cue to slide.

Acuna slid. If Davis had taken the throw on the third-base side of the plate he’d have had Acuna dead to rights, but he ceded the plate. If Acuna had slid straight into the plate he’d have been obviously safe, but he slid to the right of it, reaching for it with his fingertips instead. Acuna’s margin between safe and out at the plate? Pretty much the same as it had been at first.

The Mets had the lead and kept it when Nimmo bailed out Dedniel Nunez in the eighth, leaping above the left-field fence to take a home run away from Joey Bart. But then the ninth arrived and the game degenerated into a slapstick farce.

With Edwin Diaz having worked back-to-back games, Huascar Brazoban was tapped to secure the save. That would have been amazing when Brazoban arrived last summer, saucer-eyed and jelly-legged from Marlins PTSD; now it seemed reasonable, a testament to Brazoban’s resurrection by the coaching staff and his own hard work.

Brazoban gave up a leadoff single to March Met Alexander Canario, but coaxed a grounder from Triolo — a hot shot, but straight into Lindor’s glove as prelude to a 6-4-3 double play … except it banked off Lindor’s glove and everyone was safe. Davis bunted the runners to second and third, and Hayes hit a hot shot to Acuna, who was perfectly positioned to cut down the runner at plate and leave the Mets an out from victory … except the ball banked off Acuna’s glove, everyone was safe and the game was tied.

After a pep talk from Carlos Mendoza, which I presume was some more optimistic variation of “keep doing the thing that should be working but isn’t,” Brazoban got another grounder from Bryan Reynolds. It was against the drawn-in infield, a much more difficult chance than the two balls Met infielders had muffed, but McNeil was able to start the double play, because baseball.

In the ninth, against David Bednar, Acuna struck out trying to hit a ball to Mars and Bednar got a grounder up the middle from Lindor … which ticked off the top of second base and went through Kiner-Falefa’s legs. Soto scorched a single to right-center that sent Lindor to third, and Alonso turned in the kind of AB we wound have found miraculous in 2023 or 2024 but are now starting to take for granted. Alonso refused to expand the strike zone, worked the count to 3-1 and got a middle-middle four-seamer from Bednar that he sent into the outfield. It was obvious the moment it left the bat that it was deep enough to score Lindor and win the game; it was and it did.

It’s not often that a reliever blows the save, vultures a win and you nod and sagely declare that justice has been done. But that’s what happened. The Mets had won, and while there was probably a easier way to get there, the hard way will do.