Escobar ends it with Mets in first place
The Mets have been searching for offense throughout this two-game series against the Marlins. Eduardo Escobar supplied it for them Wednesday night at Citi Field in a 5-4 walkoff win.
Escobar went 3-for-5 with a home run and five RBI. He homered in the seventh inning and hit a game-tying single in the eighth to drive in four runs overall before driving in Francisco Lindor with a single in the 10th.
The Mets (98-58) regained a one-game lead in the NL East over the Braves (97-59), who lost their own extra-inning contest to the Nationals. There are still some concerns as the Mets depart for Atlanta for a crucial weekend series. The Mets did squander one opportunity to gain ground in the first game of the two-game series and the offense was nearly lifeless for 17 innings against Miami, save for a couple of big home runs by Pete Alonso and Escobar, and a flukey run balked in on Tuesday night, courtesy of Richard Bleier. The offense seems to stop and start and sputter out.
But still, they’re in good position with a day off heading into the weekend.
Escobar’s home run came off of Jesus Luzardo in the seventh inning with no outs and it chased the lefty from the game. Luzardo had been fantastic to that point and ended the night with just two runs on four hits while striking out six and walking two.
Tanner Scott walked the bases loaded in the eighth and Escobar sliced a single to right to score Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso.
The Mets nearly had another rally going in the ninth when Tomas Nido hit a one-out double, taking Andrew Nardi back to the center-field wall. He was replaced by pinch-runner Terrance Gore and Brandon Nimmo walked to put two on with the heart of the order behind him.
But Alonso swung at ball four and Lindor popped one up.
Taijuan Walker pitched well through five innings and change, but Luzardo absolutely stifled the Mets’ bats, shutting them out through six innings. The offense left Walker with little room for error.
The Marlins took two off Walker in the fourth when Bryan De La Cruz drove a 2-2 fastball to center field. Walker got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth, but it was a dicey inning. Charles Leblanc worked the count full before walking with two outs to load the bases. Walker then had Brian Anderson on 0-2, but Anderson took three straight balls for another full count.
He eventually swung through a splitter to strike out and end the inning. It was good work by Walker, but when he came back out in the sixth he walked Nick Fortes and then faced De La Cruz for the third time. De La Cruz doubled to the left-field corner and in came Seth Lugo to relieve him.
Walker allowed three earned runs on six hits, three of which came from De La Cruz. He walked two and struck out eight.
Lugo minimized the damage, but still allowed a run to score on a fly ball. He then gave up another run in the seventh to put the Mets down, 4-0. Adam Ottavino and Edwin Diaz each tossed scoreless innings to keep the Mets in the game. Drew Smith (3-3) struck out two in the 10th, excelling in a high-leverage situation to get a big win.
METS MARLINS