Story by Robbie Lewis (@sayheyrob)
5-25-24 RECAP: San Francisco Giants (26-26) vs New York Mets (21-29)
The Giants looked to keep the miracles rolling on Saturday afternoon as they took on the scuffling Mets once again. A win today would lock up a winning road trip on this six game east coast swing. Could Jordan Hicks set the stage for a potential sweep tomorrow?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Giants fell behind early. In the bottom of the 2nd, Starling Marte launched an 0-2 hanging sweeper from Hicks into the left field seats to give the Mets the early 1-0 advantage. The series was only 11 innings old and it was already the 4th Mets homer.
Well it was still 1-0 heading to the top of the 5th and Matt Chapman drew a leadoff walk. Don’t get excited because nothing came of it. However, it was the Giants first baserunner of the game. So Luis Severino’s perfect game was over, but his no hit bid was very much alive. Yikes.
Hallelujah! Brett Wisely recorded the Giants first hit of the day in the top of the 6th with a one out single. And that’s not all. Luis Matos followed that with a walk and the Giants had a rally. Matos was retired on a Thairo Estrada fielders choice, so that set Patrick Bailey up with a 1st & 3rd two out situation. After Bailey missed a 3-Run dinger my mere inches down the right field line, he’d still manage to come through with an RBI single into left center to tie the game at 1-1.
Hicks’ day ended after five innings. Taylor Rogers took over in the bottom of the 6th and quickly yielded an infield single to Brandon Nimmo. He’d rally to strikeout JD Martinez and caught a line shot off the bat of Harrison Bader that nearly killed him. Rogers would then be lifted for Sean Hjelle who would end the inning by striking out Starling Marte.
Sean Hjelle surrendered the lead back to the Mets in the bottom of the 7th when he hung a curveball to Brett Baty. It traveled a long way, but not as far as the grand slam Bryan Reynolds hit off him on Wednesday. Hjelle compounded his mistake by walking Omar Narvaez with one out and that would be the end of his day. Randy Rodriguez would get the opportunity to face Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso and he’d make good on his shot by retiring them both. The Mets took the 2-1 lead into the top of the 8th.
More late inning magic from the Giants today. Edwin Diaz came on to try and exercise his early season demons and it just didn’t happen. Wilmer Flores smoked the first pitch of the inning into left field and the Giants quickly had life. Ryan McKenna came out to pinch run for Flores and that proved to be huge. After Mike Yastrzemski gone blown away by three straight no respect fastballs for out number one, LaMonte Wade Jr. came out to pinch hit for Heliot Ramos. McKenna would steal 2nd on the very first pitch to Wade and the tying run was now in scoring position. Wade came through once again with an RBI knock into right field to tie the game at 2-2. However, he was gunned down at 2nd by Starling Marte while trying to stretch it into a double, but they would play on in Queens.
Luke Jackson pitched a scoreless 9th inning despite Thairo Estrada and Marco Luciano botching a potential double play where Thairo played back on the ball a bit near the bag and tried a quick flip to Luciano from just a few feet away. Fortunately, Jackson retired Lindor and Alonso back to back to keep the Giants alive. These damn games!!!
Sean Reid-Foley took over for the Mets in the top of the 10th with Curt Casali on 2nd as the Giants charity runner. Brett Wisely wasted no time and smacked a leadoff RBI single up the middle to give the Giants their first lead of the day at 3-2. That would be Wisely’s third hit of the day! The good guys were far from done. Luis Matos followed with a single of his own to center and Wisely scooted up to 2nd. Then Pete Alonso overshot Francisco Lindor on a throw to 2nd on a potential double play ball off the bat of Thairo Estrada and everybody was safe! So just like that the bases were loaded for Patrick Bailey with nobody out. After fouling off three tough pitches in a 3-2 count, Bailey drew a walk to push the Giants lead to 4-2. Reid-Foley fought back and struck out Chapman and McKenna back to back to keep the Mets shot at a potential comeback alive for the moment. With Mike Yastrzemski waiting in the wings, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told Reid-Foley to hit the showers and gave the rock to young lefty Josh Walker. Walker tried to groove a belt high fastball by Yaz and he paid the price as he played pepper with the left field wall for a 3-run triple to bust this bad girl open. The laptop probably exploded after taking in those results! It was now a 7-2 Giants lead as Camilo Doval trotted out for the bottom of the 10th.
There would be no more drama in this one as Doval mowed down the Mets 3-4-5 hitters to put the game to bed. It would go down as a 7-2 Giants win and they were now over .500. “Do you believe in unlikelihoods?” – Cotton McKnight
Logan Webb (4-4, 3.03) will be the guy to pursue the sweep tomorrow as he takes on Forever Giant, Sean Manaea (3-1, 3.11).
First pitch once again at 10:40 AM PT. The beers indeed taste better after a Giants win on a 3 day weekend! 🍻
- Matos: 1-4, R, BB, K (.278)
- Bailey: 1-4, R, 2 RBI, BB (.299)
- Flores: 1-4 (.216)
- McKenna: 0-1, R, SB, K (.250)
- Yastrzemski: 1-5, 3B, 3 RBI, 2 K (.224)
- Wade Jr.: 1-1, RBI (.333)
- Wisely: 3-4, 2 R, RBI (.385)
- Hicks: 5 IP, 2 H, ER, 2 BB, 8 K (2.33) (87 pitches)
- Rogers, Ta: 0.2 IP, H, K (3.20)
- Hjelle: 0.2 IP, H, ER, BB, K (3.26)
- Rodriguez: 1.2 IP, BB, 2 K (2.03)
- Jackson (W, 3-1): IP, BB (5.40)
- Doval: IP, 2 K (2.91)
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