NEW YORK -- Often for the Mets, the first six innings of a game tend not to matter.
It’s not as if the Mets are bad early in games. (They’re not.) It’s just that from the seventh inning onward, they turn into a juggernaut. The latest example presented itself Monday night at Citi Field, where New York overcame both Paul Skenes and some self-inflicted sloppiness to steal a 4-3 win over the Pirates on Pete Alonso’s walk-off sacrifice fly.
The Mets now lead the Majors with a +27 run differential from the seventh through ninth innings. They're first in the Majors in batting average, slugging percentage and OPS from the seventh through the ninth, and tied for first in runs scored.
In other words, when the game reaches its final stages, the Mets are the best team in baseball.
“We don’t give up,” Alonso said. “We’re a scrappy bunch. Yeah, we’ve got guys who can drive the ball out of the yard. We’ve got guys who can put up some good numbers offensively and hit the ball a long way and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, our identity is we’re just a scrappy team. We fight to the last out.”
On this night, the Mets again needed to do so. After a pair of fielding mistakes allowed the Pirates to tie things in the top of the ninth inning, the Mets rallied in the bottom half when Francisco Lindor reached on a Pirates error with one out. Juan Soto followed with a sharp single to put runners on the corners, allowing Alonso to lift his game-winning sacrifice fly to right.
It was the Mets’ fourth walk-off win of the season and their 15th over their past 96 regular-season home games dating to last year. Over that stretch, New York has delivered a walk-off win once every 6.4 home games. In other words, the Mets are averaging more than one per homestand.
“Experience helps,” said outfielder Brandon Nimmo, whose leaping catch in the eighth inning took a possible home run away from Joey Bart. “I think [we have] a lot of maturity, a lot of guys who have been there and done that.
“The more experience that you can get in this game, I think the less pressure you put on a situation. Because you do understand the gravity, you know how big it is. But it’s not always going to work out. And I think part of that -- like, realizing that it’s not always going to work out, and that you’re just going to go out there and you’re going to give it your best shot -- is what allows you to play with freedom and what allows you to come through in those situations.”
Nimmo cited the Mets’ comfort at their home park, which has experienced an early attendance surge, as one of many factors that help them late in games. Another is their bullpen, which has ranked in the top 10 in the Majors all season and currently has the sixth-best ERA in MLB. Another is the depth of their lineup, which Alonso mentioned. Still another is their willingness to take risks, as Luisangel Acuña did in causing havoc during a seventh-inning rally that briefly gave the Mets a lead.
“That stuff kind of adds up,” starting pitcher David Peterson said.
“You put yourself in a position where anything can happen,” added manager Carlos Mendoza.
Even so, it’s clear that some intangible factors are at play. In Nimmo’s estimation, late-game success can become a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. The more the Mets muster ninth-inning rallies and walk off opponents, the better they get at it. The better they get at it, the more they do it.
Then there’s Alonso, who has always been good at this sort of thing. His eight career walk-off RBIs are tied for third-most in franchise history, trailing only Wilmer Flores (10) and David Wright (nine).
Asked about his prowess late in games, Alonso simply said that he tries to find a good pitch to hit, same as any other inning. If it’s a boring approach, that’s precisely what makes it an effective one.
“Whether it’s a fly ball, a hit, even a passed ball, for me, I just want to execute my game plan,” Alonso said. “Honestly, the fly ball is what we needed, but if I’m trying to hit a fly ball there, it doesn’t necessarily happen.”