Giants stage late comeback again, beat Mets 7-2

Mike Yastrzemski got the big swing of the night, as the Giants get their fourth comeback win in a row.

The San Francisco Giants came back late in the game once again to beat the New York Mets 7-2.

This is a sentence I’m not sure I would have believed early in the game. Mets starting pitcher Luis Severino had the Giants locked down early, not allowing a base runner until the fifth inning, when Matt Chapman walked, and not allowing a hit until the sixth inning, when Brett Wisely got his first of three hits of the game.

Jordan Hicks had a shaky start. Although he only allowed one run (a solo home run to Sterling Marte in the second inning), he struggled with his command and his pitch-count reflected it it early. He managed to get out of a rough fourth inning unscathed, after which he was sitting at 77 pitches, but stayed in for the fifth and managed a quick, 10-pitch inning to round out his day.

The Giants tied the game for the first time in the sixth inning. After Wisely’s single that went over the head of Francisco Lindor to break up the no-hit bid, Luis Matos walked, but was thrown out when Thairo Estrada hit into a fielder’s choice. With runners on the corners, Patrick Bailey singled to center field and knocked in Wisely.

Taylor Rogers entered to pitch the sixth inning, and it became an inning he’s unlikely to forget any time soon. Brandon Nimmo got an infield single that hit off the glove of Rogers, who probably shouldn’t have tried to make a play there, because it diverted the ball off line for Wisely, who made a valiant attempt at a play at first, but couldn’t get a throw there in time.

After Rogers struck out J.D. Martinez (with a gift of a strike call), Harrison Bader hit a line drive straight at his face. Rogers’ instincts to make a catch saved him in this instance, even if it might have taken years off of his life in the process.

That was it for Rogers, as Sean Hjelle entered and struck out Marte to end the inning.

The Mets took the lead again in the bottom of the seventh, when Hjelle left a curveball up for Brett Baty, who had a smile on his face before he even made contact on a monster of a home run that sailed up into the second deck.

Adam Ottavino entered to pitch the top of the eighth for the Mets. And things got a little dicey. Wisely got his second hit of the game on a golf swing of a single to right, before getting thrown out on a fielder’s choice hit by Luis Matos, whose speed narrowly avoided a double play.

Estrada was up after that, and if you remember last summer when his hand was broken on a hit-by-pitch, you might remember that Ottavino was that pitcher. This at-bat went slightly better, no broken bones, but Ottavino did hit Estrada with a pitch in the forearm, that ricocheted off and into his ribs. Estrada was not pleased. Ottavino then nearly hit Bailey as well. But the Giants were not able to capitalize on Ottavino’s struggles, and he got out of the inning unscathed.

The Giants managed to tie things up again in the top of the ninth. Wilmer Flores hit a leadoff single, with Ryan McKenna entering as a pinch-runner, which was a key moment. He stole second, which put him in scoring position for LaMonte Wade, Jr., who entered as a pinch-hitter for Ramos. Late Night LaMonte then hit a single to right, that allowed McKenna to score, before being thrown out trying to push for second base. But this was enough for the Giants to live to see another half-inning, at least.

Luke Jackson entered to pitch the bottom of the ninth. Tomás Nido hit a ball to Estrada, who tried to throw it to Marco Luciano, who fumbled it and got another ninth inning error for his troubles. Jury’s out on whether or not the problem was actually with the throw, but it’s definitely not what Luciano wanted when he came into the game. But Jackson got out of the inning without allowing a run, sending the game to extra innings.

A personal aside, I was watching this game while on a call with my best friend, who is a Norwegian Mets fan. And it was around this time that their tortured Mets fan soul started to bleed through. They had been given the exact same advertisement between every inning. Which they read to me via a variety of entertaining segue-ways throughout the game. But between the repetition and the Mets losing the lead once again, this was the point at which their spirit broke, and it was right to do so.

The top of the tenth inning saw Curt Casali starting out at second base, as Brett Wisely hit his third single of the day. Casali hustled it out and scored from second to put the Giants ahead by a run. But they weren’t done there.

Mets pitcher Sean Reid-Foley did not have a good time in the tenth inning. After Wisely’s RBI, the bases were then loaded after Matos singled, and Estrada hit a liner towards Pete Alonso, who got a throwing error as he attempted to make a play at second. Reid-Foley then had to face Bailey, who hit a grand slam in last night’s game. He didn’t give up a grand slam, but he did gift the Giants a run when he walked Bailey.

Reid-Foley got Chapman to fly out and McKenna to strike out, before he was pulled for Josh Walker, who entered with bases still loaded and Mike Yastrzemski at the plate. And while it wasn’t the grand slam of last night’s game, Yastrzemski did have the swing of the bat that slammed the door on the Mets’ hopes of coming back from this one.

He cleared the bases with a triple to the left center field wall, where Bader attempted a catch, but missed. This allowed the ball to carom off the wall, and not allow for a play to be made.

Camilo Doval entered in the bottom of the tenth, striking out two and putting the cherry on top of another great Giants win.