Amazin’ home cooking
CONTROVERSIAL HIT-BY-PITCH CAPS WALKOFF WIN IN OPENER AT CITI FIELD
Michael Conforto’s elbow and Jeff McNeil’s eardrum-shattering home run will haunt the Marlins for some time. But hey, the Mets caught a break and got a walk-off win out of it.
McNeil, on his 29th birthday, led off the bottom of the ninth inning with the Mets trailing by one run and launched a game-tying shot
408 feet to the second deck in right field. The loud blast — complete with a dramatic bat flip — allowed Conforto to lean his right elbow into a pitch, get hit, and walk it off for a controversial 3-2 Mets’ win in their home opener.
“A win’s a win,” Conforto repeatedly said after the walk-off hit-by-pitch.
Luis Guillorme and Brandon Nimmo collected one-out base hits after McNeil’s home run, then the Marlins intentionally walked Francisco Lindor to load the bases for Michael Conforto. On a 1-2 count, Marlins right-hander Anthony Bass hurled a slider in the strike zone. Conforto did not move out of the way (in fact, on a replay, it looked like he leaned in), the pitch skimmed his elbow guard, and home-plate umpire Ron Kulpa called it a strike, which should’ve been the second out of the inning.
“I turned and there may have been a little lift of my elbow, just out of habit, out of reaction, and it barely skimmed the edge of my elbow guard,” Conforto said. “I knew it hit me. I didn’t realize until after watching the replay that the ball was so close, that my elbow was so far out there.”
Conforto didn’t know what to do. He stood at the plate awkwardly, knew there would be controversy, and finally heard Mets coach Tony Tarasco shouting at him to jog to first base. He was, after all, hit by the pitch. The Marlins were outraged. Manager Don Mattingly pled with Kulpa to review the play, but the only part of the situation that was reviewable was whether or not Conforto was actually hit.
Moments later, Kulpa officially declared the call was upheld. Conforto was hit by the pitch, he advanced to first, Guillorme scored from third, and the Mets walked it off for a 3-2 win. The 8,011 fans in attendance celebrated and the Mets high-fived in the dugout. Marlins first baseman Jesus Aguilar, in disbelief, remained on the field even after both teams filed into their respective clubhouses.
Later, to a pool reporter, homeplate umpire Kulpa admitted he made the wrong call.
“The guy was hit by the pitch in the strike zone,” Kulpa said. “I should have called him out.”
Mattingly said: “He didn’t get hit by a pitch. He was hit by a strike.” The Marlins skipper added: “(Kulpa) knows it was a strike… He’s probably feeling bad. He’s probably feeling awful.”
Conforto said at two strikes he went into “battle mode,” and he tends to lean over the plate when he’s behind in the count. The right fielder said he’d rather use the bat to walk it off for the Mets, and it was tough for him to celebrate, but added it was the best hit-by-pitch ever “by far.”
“That was pretty incredible,” McNeil said. “Just happened to nick Conforto there, and we caught a little break and ended up winning the game.”
McNeil’s first-ever bat flip may have been better than his game-tying birthday bomb. The Mets second baseman said the flip was completely spontaneous and arrived in the moment after he heard how loud the crowd was throughout his five-pitch at-bat. McNeil said he was surprised fans at 20% capacity could amp up the volume like they did.
He said it was a huge sigh of relief to get both his first hit and first home run of the year out of the way.
“It’s definitely one of my biggest moments as a Met right there,” McNeil said. “Just to hear the crowd again was pretty incredible. They were getting me fired up that entire at-bat. Every pitch I took, they were cheering and getting louder. I was pretty pumped up, and as soon as it left the bat, I knew it.”
The Mets improved to 2-2 in the young season after their controversial and dramatic ending on Thursday. Taijuan Walker pitched a quality start in his debut as a Met, allowing two runs on four hits with four strikeouts over six innings. He didn’t give up a Marlins’ hit until the fifth inning on a Brian Anderson single to right field. Until then, he’d faced the minimum through four.
The Amazin’s return to action Saturday with Jacob deGrom teeing off against the Marlins, and Conforto may have to pay extra attention in his at-bats if The Fish opt to go for revenge.