Eduardo Escobar has five RBIs as Mets top Marlins, move game ahead of Atlanta
Mets players celebrate after Eduardo Escobar hit a walk-off single for a 5-4 win against the Marlins in an MLB game at Citi Field on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
After the Mets lost to Miami on Tuesday, Pete Alonso said he was looking forward to Wednesday because “every day is a chance to be great” in a pennant race.
Alonso wasn’t looking at Eduardo Escobar when he said it. But it was Escobar who was great on Wednesday night with five RBIs in the final four innings – including the walk-off single in the 10th – as the Mets beat the Marlins, 5-4, before 28,228 at Citi Field.
The Mets stormed back from a 4-0 deficit on Escobar’s two-run homer in the seventh, two-out, two-run single in the eighth, and game-ending single in the 10th.
“To be able to come back from 4-0 like that, that’s impressive,” manager Buck Showalter said. “I’m proud of everybody.”
With the victory and Atlanta’s 3-2, 10-inning loss at Washington, the Mets moved back into sole possession of first place in the NL East by one game.
The Mets aren’t sure what the weather will be like for the three-game showdown series that begins in Atlanta on Friday or when exactly the games will be played if Hurricane Ian’s rains come through Georgia.
But they know they have a one-game lead with six to play and will have Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer and Chris Bassitt lined up to face the defending World Series champions, who are expected to start Max Fried, Kyle Wright and Charlie Morton. Both teams are off on Thursday.
Showalter announced the rotation, with deGrom getting moved to the opener instead of Bassitt, but said the pitching order is “subject to change” should Ian mess with the series.
All three games are scheduled to be played at night. But Friday’s game could be moved to the afternoon to beat any storm. A split doubleheader looms on Sunday should Saturday’s game get rained out.
If three games cannot be completed by Sunday night, the Mets could be forced to return to Atlanta on Oct. 6 – the day after the regular season is supposed to end – if it is needed to settle the division.
The Mets hold the tiebreaker with a 9-7 season-series lead, but that only matters if the teams end the regular season tied. There is no one-game playoff to settle the division. f. The division runner-up will end up in the best-of-three wild-card series instead of getting a first-round bye.
“We’re going to get an opportunity in October to play in the playoffs,” Showalter said. “We’ll see when.”
Escobar became the first Mets player ever to drive in all five of the team’s runs and have a walk-off RBI.
Incredibly, outgoing Marlins manager Don Mattingly ordered Jeff McNeil intentionally walked to get to Escobar with one out in the 10th even though Escobar had four RBIs in the previous three innings. Escobar poked a single to left to score ghost runner Francisco Lindor.
“It was an incredible moment, honestly,” Escobar said through an interpreter. “To have an incredible moment like that, I give all the thanks to God. But what a game.”
Winning pitcher Drew Smith (3-3) struck out two and got a pop-up to strand the ghost runner in a perfect top of the 10th.
With a chance to give the Mets the lead after Escobar's tying single in the eighth, rookie Mark Vientos struck out. Vientos, who got the nod at designated hitter against lefthander Jesus Luzardo over trade deadline disappointment Darin Ruf, went 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .143.
Taijuan Walker, who is battling Carlos Carrasco for the fourth starter’s job in the postseason – should the Mets need a fourth starter – was charged with three runs in five innings-plus. Walker allowed six hits, walked two and struck out eight.
Not great. But better than Carrasco’s outing on Tuesday, when he gave up four runs in three innings in the Mets’ 6-4 defeat.
Bryan De La Cruz gave the Marlins a 2-0 lead against Walker with a two-run homer to the right of the Home Run Apple in the fourth inning.
JJ Bleday’s sacrifice fly off Seth Lugo (with the run charged to Walker) made it 3-0 in the sixth.
Lugo allowed his own run in the seventh with a two-out walk to Charles Leblanc and an RBI double by Brian Anderson.
One person the Mets won’t be getting help from anytime soon is Starling Marte (partial fracture right middle finger), who has his finger in a splint and is not doing any baseball activities.
“It’s not imminent that he’s a player,” Showalter said. “He’s doing everything except with his finger.”
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
