Carlos Mendoza had a move to make in the chess match that was the seventh inning of Tuesday night’s game at Citi Field.
With the Mets holding on to a 3-1 lead, the Philadelphia Phillies intentionally walked Jesse Winker to load the bases and bring up catcher Luis Torrens with two outs. The manager had a choice between keeping Torrens in a big spot, or bringing in left-handed hitting Brandon Nimmo to face right-hander Orion Kerkering. Mendoza went with Torrens.
Checkmate.
Torrens and Pete Alonso combined for three runs in the seventh to help the Mets defeat the Phillies 5-1, extending the win streak to six games. They moved to 17-7 on the season, matching the San Diego Padres for the league’s best record.
On 0-2, the catcher hit a line drive to left to score two.
“It feels good when the manager gives you the opportunity to face those guys in that situation,” Torrens said.
It wasn’t always pretty or eventful. The Mets went 2-for-4 with runners in scoring position and stranded six until the seventh. Griffin Canning faced a good amount of traffic. Still, the bullpen protected a one-run lead for four innings until the seventh.
Up 2-1, Francisco Lindor hit a ground ball to the left of the mound and Banks air-mailed it over Bryce Harper’s head at first. Lindor rounded and made it to second. A ground ball by Juan Soto put him on third and brought up the red-hot Alonso with two outs. The Phillies went to the bullpen for Kerkering, but he failed to counter Alonso, who doubled to the left field corner to score Lindor.
It was his 25th RBI, tying him with Aaron Judge for the league lead. His 10th double of the season, Alonso is also tied for the league lead in two-baggers.
Mark Vientos then walked and a wild pitch moved over the runners. Then they walked Winker, with Phillies manager Rob Thomson making his move on the proverbial chessboard, daring Mendoza to make his.
“Once they got behind on Winker they ended up walking him. They probably liked the matchup, right-on-right, but I’m pretty sure they knew Nimmo was there waiting,” Mendoza said. “And then I had a decision.”
Nimmo, a lineup regular, had a scheduled day off. But in a situation like this, a team leader like Nimmo would have wanted that at-bat. Anyone would want that at-bat.
Torrens has been one of the Mets’ best hitters this month but was 0-for-9 in his last three games coming up to the plate. Nimmo would have been the conventional choice, so why did Mendoza go with Torrens?
“I don’t know,” he said. “That was a tough one there, having a guy like Nimmo off the bench. But I don’t know, I liked the matchup. Looking at the matchup, Nimmo was going to say he’s the best matchup there, right? Nothing against Luis. We’re already up two and I like the feeling for the game calling, even though you’ve got a good one in [Hayden] Senger whose defense is as good as Luis’s, but I took my chances with him.”
Keeping Torrens in the game for the sake of the pitchers wasn’t a bad call, but Mendoza knew that if Torrens didn’t deliver, he would face scrutiny over the decision. But Torrens didn’t disappoint.
“I think it was the correct move,” Torrens said through a team translator. “I had already failed on the first three at-bats… So at that point, it’s let me focus in on this at-bat and try to get a good result out of it.”
Canning was far from efficient, using 40 pitches to get through the first two innings, but an adjustment to his slider after the second inning helped the right-hander limit the damage. Canning faced plenty of traffic giving seven hits and one walk, but held the Phillies to only one run over five innings in the win (3-1).
“You’re going in with a game plan, but you have to adjust because teams will adjust to you,” Mendoza said. “He did it last time, going to his fastball when he recognized that they were singling on his secondary pitches. And then today, I thought that adjustment was with him executing his own pitches.”
In the fifth Canning pitched around a single and a walk. With two outs and runners on second and third, he struck out Nick Castellanos to get out of the jam with the Mets’ 2-1 lead intact.
The starting rotation has a 2.08 ERA in 12 games at home this season and the starters have yet to allow a home run in Flushing. The rotation hasn’t allowed a home run at all over the last 11 games. Overall, the team’s 2.37 ERA leads the Majors.
“It’s been fun,” Canning said. “I think we all kind of feed off each other. We’re all having fun in the dugout in between starts, talking with each other and learning from each other.”
Center fielder Tyrone Taylor connected with Alonso at first for an outstanding double play in the eighth and the bullpen locked it down.
Everything is working for the Mets. In their first NL East test of the season, they put the rest of the division on notice.
Originally Published:
