Certifiably Bonkers, Again

Unfortunately, bonkers wins count the same as ho-hum ones.

The Mets’ 7-6 extra-inning win Monday night in Atlanta was certainly bonkers, even certifiably so. Proof: Juan Soto hit a go-ahead home run into the upper reaches of the Chophouse (rudely interrupting its trajectory to the moon) with two outs in the ninth and there was some danger of that getting lost in the shuffle.

But let’s go back, shall we? The game didn’t start swimmingly, as Freddy Peralta was his usual maddening, inefficient self, though an early Jared Young error didn’t help in the pitch-count department. The moment that really had me seething? It was Peralta all but springing off the mound at the conclusion of the fourth. Yes, he’d escaped trouble, but at that point he’d needed more than 90 pitches to complete four lackluster innings. More ace-caliber stuff for David Stearns’ prized offseason acquisition!

The Braves had a 3-1 lead; the Mets would draw within 3-2 but get stymied again and again by exceptional Atlanta defense, whether it was Mauricio Dubon diving to pluck a Francisco Lindor liner off the tips of the grass or Jim Jarvis erasing Bo Bichette on an Ordonez-esque relay home or Ozzie Albies snagging an in-between hop to double A.J. Ewing off second. The Braves were making every conceivable play while the Mets looked unkempt, though at this point I’ve been cudgeled into apathy and can rarely muster more than sighs and muttering at most Met failings.

But despite looking like they’d been thoroughly outplayed, the Mets were within a skinny run when Raisel Iglesias trooped out to the mound to lock down the save, only to be burned by overreliance on his fastball. He gave up a single to Francisco Alvarez on the fastball, eviscerated Brett Baty on three straight changeups, ignored that object lesson and inexplicably threw Ronny Mauricio a fastball for another single, and so wound up facing off with Soto.

Soto wouldn’t bite at the changeup and on 3-1 Iglesias tried to sneak a fastball past him on the inside part of the plate … and, well, the old cliche about trying to throw a lamp chop past a wolf is right there, isn’t it? Soto clubbed it down the right-field line and stood stock still after he connected, watching the ball travel with the detached, analytical look he fixes on pretty much everything a baseball does when he has a bat in his hand. Not to worry — it came down 430 feet away and the Mets were up 5-3.

Or at least they were for a good six or seven minutes.

Devin Williams — the other half of the David Stearns specialty combo — came on with his airbender MIA and it didn’t go well: an Albies leadoff double was followed by a home run from Matt Olson, his second of the game, and the score was tied with the Braves looking for the walkoff. With two outs and doom 90 feet away at third, Andy Green mercifully sent Williams packing and summoned Brooks Raley, who struck out momentary 2025 Met Jose Azocar on three pitches.

(Williams, oh my. Unless the trajectory of his career changes soon — and it can, as Edwin Diaz could tell you — Met fans will be shaking their heads about Williams for decades, the same way the name “Braden Looper” leads to eye-rolling among veteran fans now. And with reason: Pete Alonso broke Devin Williams and so the Mets … acquired him? I will never understand that one.)

With Manfred Ball now in dingbat session, the Mets faced off against Owen Murphy, who was making his big-league debut. It looked like young Murphy might emerge from this unenviable fix intact, as he got two quick outs to start the 10th. But he then hit Young in the foot and hung a slider to Luis Torrens, who pulled it to the left-field wall to put the Mets back up by two.

If you thought it wouldn’t be easy, well, good on you for paying attention. The Mets turned to Luke Weaver, who’s been their best reliever for more than two months (and another Stearns import, to be fair), and Weaver yielded a one-out double to bring the Braves within one before fanning the detestably dangerous Albies. The Mets opted to intentionally walk Olson, which was advisable, but then unintentionally walked Jorge Mateo, which was not. So it would be Dubon vs. Weaver with two out, the bases loaded and another ridiculous game teetering on the tightrope.

Weaver’s second pitch was a fastball with a lot of plate, but Dubon smacked it to Ronny Mauricio, who flipped it to Baty at second for a little Mauricio-on-Mauricio crime and the second Mets escape act in two days. I didn’t hear if Keith Raad called it another damn thing, but it would have been justified, wouldn’t it?

Escaping White Flight Stadium with a split, however harrowing the two Ws were to secure? In this dreary trudge of a season, that feels like a near-miracle.