Mesoraco, Flores rally Mets to walk-off victory

NEW YORK -- The Mets finally have a winning streak. The Force is with them.
Wilmer Flores lofted a sacrifice fly to left field with none out in the ninth to give the Mets a 5-4 walk-off victory over the D-backs on Saturday before 39,515 on Star Wars Night at Citi Field. It is the first time the club has won consecutive games since an April 13 victory over the Brewers gave the Mets an 11-1 start and a nine-game winning streak.
"Right before we came up in the ninth we made it clear that we hadn't won, in over a month, back-to-back games," manager Mickey Callaway said. "So that was big for us."
Brandon Nimmo opened the ninth against reliever Andrew Chafin with a double off the fence in right-center, and Asdrúbal Cabrera's perfect bunt down the third-base line went for a single to put runners at the corners and set the table for Flores, who said he'd heard Callaway's reminder.
It was Flores' second walk-off RBI this season and eighth of his career.

"I'm not thinking about the walk-off. I am thinking about how to bring the run in, what the pitcher's throwing," Flores said. "You can't think about the walk-off. I think like it's the first inning or the fifth inning."
Devin Mesoraco tied the score at 4 in the eighth inning by taking Arizona reliever Archie Bradley over the left-field fence for a two-run home run. Mesoraco was an All-Star in 2014 before years of injuries reduced him to a backup role this season, but he has become rejuvenated since the Mets acquired him in the May 8 trade for Matt Harvey.

"I wasn't playing and it makes things a lot tougher," Mesoraco said. "Coming to a new team when you've been somewhere your whole career [where] maybe you got comfortable? You're hearing different voices. We have a good club, a better club than what was there in Cincinnati. It definitely pumps you up. I want to play games that are important. We have a capable group here, so to help them out is great."
The late-inning heroics took starter Steven Matz off the hook for allowing four runs over just four innings, including a three-run fourth that put Arizona up, 4-2, after Michael Conforto's second-inning homer gave the Mets a 2-1 lead.

Paul Goldschmidt tied the game at 2 with a leadoff homer in the fourth. But Matz, who has struggled dealing with in-game adversity, looked irked when a 3-2 pitch to Jarrod Dyson was called ball four for a two-out walk.
Dyson successfully stole second base on a pickoff attempt, and the Mets challenged the bang-bang play, but the umpires ruled that the call on the field would stand after a replay review. Dyson then also stole third before John Ryan Murphy hit a full-count changeup for a two-run homer and a 4-2 lead.

It was the second time in the game that the Mets had opted to pitch to No. 8 hitter Murphy with two outs instead of going after pitcher Patrick Corbin. In the second, Murphy laced a run-scoring single for a 1-0 lead.
"I made a couple bad pitches and they made me pay for it," Matz said. "The two-out walk to a lefty there is unacceptable. [Then] I've got the pitcher on deck and I made a mistake. I can't let that happen."
"He probably went with the wrong pitches in that case," Callaway said. "You don't throw changeups to pitch around guys. You throw a fastball because you know you can get it where you want to."

SOUND SMART
Flores' eighth walk-off RBI in his Mets career ties him with Kevin McReynolds for second on the franchise list. He trails only David Wright, who has nine.

HE SAID IT
"If you're a starting pitcher, you have to be able to get that eight-hole hitter out and be able to pitch around him when that's called for." -- Callaway, on Matz giving up two run-scoring hits to Murphy with two outs
UP NEXT
Asdrubal Cabrera will be looking to again dominate Arizona starter Clay Buchholz in the series finale against the D-backs on Sunday. Cabrera is 8-for-16 with two home runs and two doubles in 19 career plate appearances against the right-hander, who signed a Minor League deal with the D-backs earlier this month. Noah Syndergaard will start for the Mets, who are going for a three-game sweep. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET.