J.D. Martinez's ninth-inning HR saves Mets from being no-hit by Atlanta
Brett Baty reacts after striking out during Mets' loss to Atlanta at Citi Field on Saturday, May 11, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
One of the Mets’ largest home crowds of the season gathered at Citi Field on a picture-perfect Saturday afternoon for what they thought would be the main event of the day and perhaps the weekend: Christian Scott, the organization’s top pitching prospect, pitching at home for the first time.
They wound up witnessing dominance . . . by the other team.
The Mets lost to Atlanta, 4-1, after being held hitless until there were two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
J.D. Martinez’s home run — his first with the Mets — off Raisel Iglesias saved them from no-hitter infamy. It did not save them from another loss.
After the homer, the Mets (18-20) actually brought the potential tying run to the plate when Jeff McNeil walked and Harrison Bader reached on an infield single. But Brett Baty lined out to centerfielder Michael Harris II for the final out.
“We didn’t want to get no-hit, but in that situation, that moment, I’m just thinking about my plan and my game, what I’m trying to do in that at-bat off Iglesias, really,” Martinez said. “You can’t get caught up in all that. Then you start putting all this excess pressure on yourself. For what? You get no-hit? Who cares? Tomorrow is another day.”
Lefthander Max Fried handled the first seven innings for Atlanta (24-12), working around three walks and striking out five.
The Mets threatened to get a hit a few times early, including Pete Alonso’s second-inning flyout to center, as Harris made a running catch a step shy of the wall.
But then Fried settled in, and the Mets seemed to grow meeker as the game progressed in front of an announced 38,919 — the second-largest crowd in Queens this year behind only Opening Day.
“He kept making pitches when needed,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “As the game goes, we have to make adjustments. Obviously, we didn’t do that today.”
When Fried painted the low, outside corner of the strike zone with a 97.3-mph sinker — his fastest pitch of the outing — to catch McNeil looking and end the bottom of the seventh, he was done.
He had thrown 109 pitches. Even with history on the line, manager Brian Snitker made the call that most anybody would in his position in baseball today: Go to the bullpen.
This was the second time in three starts that Fried didn’t allow a hit through at least six innings.
“He’s tough because you don’t know which way his ball is going to go,” Martinez said. “If it’s going to come in, if it’s going to go away, if it’s going to go down, if it’s going to go up. He’s a really good pitcher. He’s successful, and you can see why when you face him. It’s not a fun at-bat.”
Scott contributed a quality start, giving up three runs in six innings-plus, but was annoyed with the way it ended. After Mendoza trusted him to begin the seventh, he walked Travis d’Arnaud and yielded a single to Harris after falling behind 2-and-0.
Upon getting pulled, Scott ducked down the tunnel for about 30 seconds before returning to the dugout. Some frustration needed to be expelled.
“They gave me a chance to go out in the seventh and I really appreciate that,” he said. “I didn’t pick up the team there. I’m not going to hit a water cooler or anything like that, just a little frustrated.”
Facing Atlanta’s loaded lineup, Scott fared worse against the bottom of the order. Harris, batting seventh, had an RBI single. No. 8 hitter Orlando Arcia pulled an inside fastball down the leftfield line, just fair, for a two-run home run.
“Right where I wanted it,” Scott said of that pitch. “But good hitters are going to do that when they’re in hitter’s counts. I thought he made a good swing. I tip my cap to him.”
The Mets played most of the game without Brandon Nimmo, who departed at the start of the fifth inning because of an issue with his right intercostal, a muscle between his ribs.
He felt “a little bit of something uncomfortable,” he said, on a check swing in the bottom of the third. After staying in — and taking full swings on the next two pitches — it felt worse through the fourth. So the Mets played it safe and removed him.
Nimmo won’t receive an MRI and doesn’t expect to go on the injured list.
“I’m not too concerned,” Mendoza said. “I think we caught it early.”
Nimmo said: “There’s a possibility I’m good to go tomorrow.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
