MINNEAPOLIS — Who were these guys and where are they hiding the real Mets relievers?
A bullpen that has been adept like maybe no other in the major leagues at igniting blazes was asked to rescue the Mets following a shortened Steven Matz start Tuesday night and succeeded to the hilt against the Twins.
Robert Gsellman, Luis Avilan, Jeurys Familia (yep, even him) Justin Wilson, Seth Lugo, Edwin Diaz, the kitchen sink. In the end the Mets held on for a 3-2 victory in their first game at Target Field since 2013.
Diaz turned it into a nail-biter by loading the bases with two outs in the ninth before getting Nelson Cruz to pop out on a full-count fastball.
“[Cruz] came in with his strength, which is his power, and I came with my strength, which is my fastball,” Diaz said. “All I wanted was to elevate my fastball there to get him out.”
Michael Conforto went 4-for-4 (all the hits for singles) on a night the Mets scored two unearned runs in the first inning and didn’t fall behind. The victory was the Mets’ third straight and moved them eight games below .500. The Mets hadn’t won three in a row since sweeping the Nationals four games, ending on May 23.
Manager Mickey Callaway began playing the matchup game in the fifth, when Gsellman and Avilan were utilized. The sixth meant Avilan and Familia, before Wilson, Lugo and Diaz each pitched a scoreless inning. All this from a bullpen that entered with a 7.33 ERA over its previous 40 games.
“To throw up five scoreless innings against that group over there, that says a lot,” Callaway said. “And you knew [the Twins] weren’t going to make every inning easy on you.”
This shutdown came against a Twins team that began the night with a six-game lead in the AL Central and is on pace to shatter the MLB record for homers in a season.
In his first start in 18 days, Matz was removed after four innings (68 pitches) in which he allowed two earned runs on five hits and one walk. The lefty was on a pitch count of 75-80 after spending the week before the All-Star break working from the bullpen.
“I definitely wasn’t as sharp as I would like to be,” Matz said. “But I felt great out there, comfortable attacking guys.”
Conforto delivered against the shift in the fifth, punching an RBI single to left that gave the Mets a 3-2 lead. It was the third of four hits on the night for Conforto, who entered in a 6-for-49 (.122) skid over his previous 14 games. In the inning, Amed Rosario doubled and reached third on a wild pitch before Conforto shortened up his swing with two outs and produced the go-ahead hit.
“I feel like maybe a couple of weeks ago I don’t stay on that ball long enough to poke it the other way,” Conforto said. “And obviously the fact it gave us the lead was huge as well.”
C.J. Cron’s RBI double in the fourth had tied it 2-2, after Matz surrendered a single to Eddie Rosario leading off the inning. With runners on the corners and two outs, Jonathan Schoop broke for second in an attempt to draw a throw and allow Cron to sneak home. But Schoop was tagged out without Cron scoring.
Schoop homered on a changeup from Matz leading off the third to pull the Twins within 2-1. The damage in the inning would have been more extensive if not for Conforto racing to the center-field fence to rob Cruz of an extra-base hit for the final out with a runner on first.
Aided by a passed ball, wild pitch and error, the Mets scored two unearned runs in the first against Michael Pineda. Jeff McNeil and Conforto singled in succession to open the game, with both runners advancing on a passed ball on Jason Castro. Robinson Cano’s sacrifice fly brought in the first run before Pineda unloaded a wild pitch, sending Conforto to third. Conforto scored on Schoop’s fielding error that allowed Wilson Ramos to reach first base.