Mets rally late to complete comeback from four down to beat Angels, 7-5

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a day ago

The Mets came back from four runs down by taking advantage of some shoddy defense by the Los Angeles Angels to grab a 7-5 win on Monday night at Citi Field.
Kodai Senga, lacking sharpness and striking no fear in the Angels -- who showed no fear in laying off the Ghost Fork below the strike zone -- managed to go just three frames as his streak of 31 starts of allowing three runs or fewer ended. But New York's bullpen bought enough time for the bats to respond with a three-run seventh and two-run eighth to improve to 57-44 on the season and 35-16 at home.
Here are the takeaways...
- Down three in the seventh, the Mets came alive when Francisco Alvarez, in his first game back after his demotion, led off with a walk and Luisangel Acuña singled up the middle to knock out Angels starter Tyler Anderson who had been terrific. Reliever Reid Detmers came on and plunked Brandon Nimmo to load the bases. Francisco Lindor grounded into a run-scoring 6-4 fielder's choice, beating the relay to first and then swiping second without a throw. That proved big as Juan Soto, in a 3-for-30 skid, knocked a base hit up the middle to score a pair and tie the game.
- Down 1-0 with one out in the second, Jeff McNeil looped a single over the second baseman's head and Mark Vientos followed with a lined smash to left, but the Mets failed to do anything with the opportunity against Anderson, as Brett Baty and Alvarez grounded out.
Baty, with two down and McNeil on first after he walked, redeemed himself in the fourth, clubbing a 2-0 Anderson sinker in the lefty happy zone 404 feet to right for a two-run shot to halve the deficit. The 106.3 mph rocket was Baty's 11th on the year and first against a southpaw. McNeil finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Baty finished 1-for-3 with a walk and a strikeout. Vientos went 1-for-4.
- Alvarez got another chance with the go-ahead runner on first and one down in the eighth, and he took a low-and-away 97 mph fastball and drove it off the wall in right for a double, aided by Angels right fielder Chris Taylor misplaying the 375-foot smash.
With runners on second and third, Ronny Mauricio (pinch-hitting for Acuña) grounded it to third, but Yoán Moncada's throw home was off target and got past the catcher to allow Baty to score the go-ahead run on a play he should have been out on by 10 feet. Nimmo added a sac fly to right to give the Mets a 7-5 lead.
At the plate, Alvarez looked much quieter and worked a pair of walks, to finish 1-for-2 with two walks.
- Edwin Diaz, looking to shake off a blown save in Sunday's win, struck out the side on 14 pitches to nail down the win.
- Other than Soto's two-RBI hit, the struggles for the Mets' heart of the order continued. Lindor, who entered the game in an 0-for-21 slump, popped out twice on the infield as he went 0-for-5 with an RBI. Soto made three straight first-pitch outs, making solid contact on a flyout to center as he went 1-for-4. And Pete Alonso, with just eight hits in his last 48 at-bats (.167) over his last 14 games, went 0-for-3 with a walk and strikeout.
- Senga opened the game by allowing the first batter to reach for the ninth time in 15 starts with a walk, but a strikeout and two good defensive plays on balls in the infield saw him settle into the game.
With two down in the second, Logan O'Hoppe got a center-cut cutter and drove it into the visitor's bullpen for a 401-foot solo home run, 107 mph off the bat.
Senga's lack of sharpness was apparent with two down in the third. He surrendered a leadoff infield hit to third before getting the next two, but then walked Mike Trout as the Angels continued to have little interest in chasing the splitter. Then Taylor Ward took a 2-1 cutter that got too much of the middle of the plate for a two-run double to left. The Mets probably should have got Trout at the plate, but Nimmo's throw to Lindor was a bit high and the shortstop's throw to the plate went over everybody's heads. Jo Adell took a first-pitch fastball to right for a single to make it a three-run inning. Senga issued one more walk before ending the inning with a strikeout on his 37th pitch of the frame.
His final line: 3.0 innings, four runs on four hits and three walks with five strikeouts on 73 pitches (39 strikes). Senga's average velocity was down at least a mph on all of his pitches, with the average forkball velocity down 2.2 mph and the average sinker velocity down 1.9 mph. He managed 10 whiffs on 26 swings, but half of those came on pitches inside the strike zone.
- Called on early, the bullpen responded well at first. Righty Kevin Herget worked 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two singles. Chris Devenski entered with a man on first and one out in the sixth, and got a strikeout and groundout.
But Devenski had nothing in the seventh, after a single and caught stealing, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and a single to right scored the Angels' fifth run and put runners on the corners.
Huascar Brazobán got a 5-2 putout with Baty and Alvarez combining well before a strikeout stranded two runners in the seventh. Brooks Raley allowed a two-out single in a scoreless eighth.
- Part of the reason Alvarez was sent down was to work on his receiving, blocking, and all things defense. In the first, he had plenty of opportunities to block and pick balls as Senga struggled to find the zone or get chases. He did well to pounce on a little dribbler in front of the plate and snap a throw to first to get the final out. Alvarez later gunned down Zach Neto trying to steal second for the first out in the seventh, aided by a fine tag by Lindor.
Game MVP: Bullpen
The work from Herget, Brazobán, Raley, and Diaz kept the Mets in the game and shut the door after Senga failed to get to double-digit outs.
Highlights
What's next
The two sides are right back at it Tuesday night for a 7:10 p.m. first pitch in Flushing.
Right-hander Frankie Montas (5.03 ERA, 1.169 WHIP in 19.2 innings) climbs the hill for New York in his fifth start of the season. Righty Kyle Hendricks (4.88 ERA, 1.292 WHIP in 96.0 innings) toes the rubber for Los Angeles for his 19th start of the campaign.