PHILADELPHIA — When everybody has counted the New York Mets out, they seem to find an extra gear.
For the first eight innings against the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday, the Mets offense barely had a pulse. Starting pitcher Taijuan Walker was ineffective and dug a seven-run hole.
But with their backs up against the wall once again, the Mets’ offense clicked into overdrive.
The Mets bashed eight hits and scored seven runs in the ninth inning off James Norwood and closer Corey Knebel to pull off an improbable 8-7 victory over the Phillies in front of 24,040 fans on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park.
“You just never give up, and you just say, ‘OK, when it comes to be my turn, I give it everything I got,’” said Brandon Nimmo. who tied the score with a two-out, two-run single into center field. “It seems like every guy on this team has that mentality. When you do that, it allows for things like this to happen. And that’s the only way.”
After only mustering three hits in the first eight innings and falling behind 7-1, seven different Mets batters provided a hit in the ninth.
Starling Marte, who homered in the sixth inning for the Mets’ lone offense until the ninth, followed Nimmo up with the go-ahead RBI double into deep left-center field.
“Honestly, I didn’t have anything on my mind there,” Marte said. “I just got in the batter’s box and I wanted to put a good swing on the ball, and that’s what I was able to. (Knebel) threw a good pitch for me to hit and I hit it into the gap.”
Marte had two hits in the inning, leading things off with an infield single before Francisco Lindor ended an 0-for-18 streak with a two-run home run to slice the Mets’ deficit to 7-3.
Suddenly, the Mets began to believe.
After Pete Alonso knocked a double to left, he scored the Mets’ fourth run on Mark Canha’s RBI single. The Mets were down to their last gasp following Dominic Smith’s strikeout, J.D. Davis delivered a pinch-hit RBI double and Nimmo evened the score.
Marte’s second RBI of the game helped the Mets improve their MLB-best record to 19-9.
“It’s special whenever you have 26 guys and 12 coaches and everyone’s contributing, everybody’s well-prepared and everybody’s counting on each other,” Lindor said. “It’s just fun. It’s May. We still have a long way to go. This one is good to keep in the back of our heads, but you have to focus on what you have in front of us and set our eyes on the next day.”
Another miracle
A blown lead, a two-run deficit and now a six-run gap.
Nothing seems to phase this year’s Mets team. Thursday’s rally surpassed the implausible two-out rally on April 25 against the Cardinals when Nolan Arenado’s error extended the game and Dominic Smith beat out a chopper down the line to plate the go-ahead runs in a 5-2 win.
And then there was a collapse against the Diamondbacks that was salvaged by a go-ahead RBI infield single by Marte in the 10th inning.
No situation is too insurmountable for this year’s team.
“Every team develops personalities as the season progresses and this one’s answered a lot of early season challenges,” Buck Showalter said. “We’ll see if it bodes well. Our curiosity is going to be satisfied but a night like tonight makes you realize what could be.”
Throw in the second no-hitter in franchise history last week, and the Mets have made the seemingly impossible seem very much attainable this season.
“Those guys are getting paid a lot of money to get us out and they’re good at it,” Nimmo said. “This is not a normal circumstance. We’re prepared and we’re going up there to battle, but this doesn’t happen every day. It will surprise you.”
Glimmer of hope
Showalter is looking for answers in a bullpen that is reeling from the loss of Trevor May to an extended injury.
In his second appearance of the season, Adonis Medina provided a glimpse of his potential through his work between the sixth and eighth innings. Medina tossed 2⅔ scoreless innings with a strikeout and scattering two hits to earn the victory.
“Adonis was key,” Buck Showalter said. “That was pretty good to not let the lead get completely away from us. Heck, at one point, I was thinking about who I was going to take out of the game.”
He came on with a runner on second in the sixth inning and hit Castellanos in the wrist during the first at-bat of his outing. But he got out of the jam with a fly ball and strike out of Rhys Hoskins.
The Phillies’ leadoff hitter got on in the seventh, as well, but Medina induced a double play and ground ball. He sent down the top of the Phillies’ lineup in order in the top of the eighth.
Taijuan Walker waxed
Maybe it was the no-hitter late last week, or maybe it was losing a pair of series to their NL East rivals to their north. Whatever was motivating the Phillies on Thursday, Walker felt the wrath of it.
Walker surrendered seven runs — six earned — on eight hits and two walks in four innings.
Walker had faced the Phillies twice earlier in the season to bookend his stint on the injured list with right shoulder bursitis. He did not give up a run in seven innings. But after Thursday’s deluge, Walker’s ERA popped from 0.00 to 4.91.
“Just elevated some pitches, wasn’t able to get into a sequence of pitches,” Buck Showalter said. “He never really got into a solid rhythm. I will tell you, getting through four innings may not sound like much now, but it looked like he wasn’t going to be able to even get there for a while.”
The first frame was one of the Mets’ worst of the year.
Walker’s woes were conflated by Lindor’s fourth error of the season. After Walker walked Kyle Schwarber to lead off the game, a potential double-play ball from Alec Bohm popped out of Lindor’s glove.
Bryce Harper knocked a RBI double in the next at-bat and the Phillies lead swelled to 4-0 after RBI singles from J.T. Realmuto and Jean Segura. Walker surrendered one more run in the second and back-to-back home runs one pitch apart to Harper and Nick Castellanos.
“We were down quick early. It kind of sucks the life out of you early to go down 4-0 in the first inning,” Wakler said. “But the fact that we kept fighting and rallied back in the ninth inning, man, we have an amazing team. We fight to the end every single game, and it’s special.”
Aaron Nola, who lost twice to the Mets earlier this season, nearly completely silenced the Mets’ offense, allowing just three hits and one walk across seven innings. He sent down 13 straight batters before Marte got the Mets on the board.
Andrew Tredinnick is the Mets beat writer for NorthJersey.com. Follow him on Twitter @andrew_tred.
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism