He’s the Juan
Ready Lagares delivers big hit in Mets’ 8th-inning rally
Juan Lagares was ready from the start. But he got REALLY ready in the sixth. You know, just in case. And in case came in the eighth inning.
And Lagares delivered, sending a two-run, pinch-hit double to right giving the Mets the lead they never lost in an 11-5 win over the Nationals at Citi Field that avoided a three-game sweep.
“I always say even if I don’t start the game I have to be ready because I never know when I have to come into the game in a situation like that,” said Lageres who now is hitting .407 as a parttimer. “After the sixth inning, I’m ready for a situation like that.”
And that was just part, a huge part, of the Mets’ nine-run rally. “We never give up,” Lagares said. “He’s confident and he’s waiting for his pitch,” manager Mickey Calaway said of Lagares. “He’s not chasing pitches out of the zone and he’s getting his pitch and he’s not missing it. He’s doing a fantastic job. I think that confidence is huge and he definitely has a lot of it right now.” And while Lagares came through, Jose Reyes again flopped as a pinch hitter, bouncing out in the seventh. Reyes is now 0-of-18 on the season.
History repeated itself in the first inning. For the Mets, it was virtually rare history.
Steve Matz threw over to first base, catching the Nationals’ Moises Sierra off base. Sierra broke for second and was thrown out by first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to shortstop Amed Rosario. So that was the second caught stealing turned in by the Mets this season. And the first one went the same way.
On April 8, in the bottom of the eighth, reliever Jerry Blevins entered with two outs and caught Anthony Rendon off first. Gonzalez to Rosario got Rendon. Those are the only times the Mets have thrown out a runner stealing. Opponents now are 21-of-23 in stolen-base attempts against the Mets. The 21 steals are seven more than the total allowed by the White Sox, MLB’s second most victimized team. Suffice to say controlling the running game is an issue for the Mets.
“Sometimes they steal them on the pitchers, sometimes they steal them on the catcher,” Callaway said before Wednesday’s game, one night after the Nationals stole three bases, making it five-of-five in the first two games of the series.
Somewhat lost in Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat was the debut of Gerson Bautista who threw a scoreless ninth, allowing one hit and later a one-out walk to Bryce Harper.
“I wasn’t [nervous] because it’s the same thing wherever I go. It’s the same ball. Here Double-A, Triple-A. Same ball,” said Bautista, the 100-mph righty who was summoned from Double-A Binghamton earlier Tuesday.