Mets Top 10 Wins of 2016, #8 - April 29 against Giants

Our Top 10 wins of 2016 countdown continues with #8, a 13-1 win over the Giants on April 29th.

I chose this win for its historic context, of course. The Mets had never scored more than 11 runs in any given inning before — something you never go into a game looking for nor expecting, kind of like a no-hitter. First things first, you are looking for a win from your team.

As the inning unfolds, however, that’s when whispers from the diehards aware of the history begin as well as the announcers and commentators alerting you to what the Mets are chasing.

The fact the Mets were able to break their record, and on the back of Yoenis Cespedes, no less, stands as a metaphor of how La Potencia takes this franchise to another level.

Box Score

Batting	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	PA	BA	PO	A
Curtis Granderson RF	4	2	1	1	1	1	5	.241	2	0
David Wright 3B	3	2	1	0	2	1	5	.236	2	1
Michael Conforto LF	5	2	2	2	0	1	5	.343	0	0	2B
Logan Verrett P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	0	0
Antonio Bastardo P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0
Yoenis Cespedes CF	4	2	2	6	0	0	4	.313	1	0	HR
Jerry Blevins P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0
Eric Campbell LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.125	0	0
Lucas Duda 1B	3	1	0	0	2	0	5	.240	9	1
Neil Walker 2B	5	1	2	1	0	0	5	.306	2	3	2B
Asdrubal Cabrera SS	4	2	2	2	0	0	4	.312	2	3	2B
Kevin Plawecki C	3	1	1	0	1	1	4	.192	6	2
Steven Matz P	3	0	0	0	0	2	3	.200	0	1
Juan Lagares CF	1	0	1	1	0	0	1	.281	3	0
Team Totals	36	13	12	13	6	7	42	.333	27	11

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/26/2016.

Pitching	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Steven Matz, W (3-1)	6	7	0	0	3	4	0	3.86
Jerry Blevins	1	1	1	1	0	1	1	4.05
Logan Verrett	1	1	0	0	1	0	0	0.52
Antonio Bastardo	1	0	0	0	2	1	0	2.61
Team Totals	9	9	1	1	6	6	1	1.00

Recap

One inning and one inning alone made this game what it ends up being in Mets history, and 39,764 fans were there to witness it on this Friday night, most of them I’m sure already having arrived by the historic third inning.

LHP Steven Matz made the start and gave up five hits in the first three innings but didn’t allow anyone to score. The Mets collected only one hit in the first two innings as well as two walks, but could not score off RHP Jake Peavy.

They opened the bottom half of the third inning with Curtis Granderson and David Wright both taking walks. Now, lots of things then happened, and I want you all to watch the highlight of the Amazin’ inning, but here is a summary…

M. Conforto – Double, Grandy scores

Y. Cespedes – Single, Wright scores, Conforto scores

L. Duda – Walk

N. Walker – Double, Cespedes scores

RHP Mike Broadway, aka “Bone Crusher,” replaced Peavy (I couldn’t find any relation to former Met Lance Broadway.)

A. Cabrera – Double, Duda scores, Walker scores

K. Plawecki – Walk

S. Matz – K on foul bunt, 1 out

C. Granderson – Single, Cabrera scores

D. Wright – Single, bases loaded

M. Conforto – Single, Plawecki scores

The fact that only one run could score on that single turned out to be a blessing, as Yo-Ces stepped up with the bases loaded.

History would have still been one swing away, but it was sweeter having him step up with the bases juiced. Mets fans remember when the team scored all those runs to come back against the Braves in the eighth inning in 2000, but that was only 10 runs, which was a record at the time.

That’s still fun, so here’s how that one ended.

On July 16, 2006, the Mets scored 11 times in the sixth inning at Wrigley Field, including two grand slams, the first time since Fernando Tatis did it single-handedly for the Cardinals in 1999 (no footage exists, but I found out that Mets.com needs to update their Mets records page. Like SEVERELY. It even still lists 2005 as the record for most home runs in a game….METS BROKE THAT IN 2015, DUDES!!! And Ces put the cherry on top of that one, too.)

This time, almost 10 years later, only one grand slam was needed.

After Yo’s epic blast to left field on the first pitch he saw, both Lucas Duda and Neil Walker grounded out to second base to end the inning. How dare they.

Here are all the record-setting runs.

Since he is a former Met, we’ll give Angel Pagan his due as the only Giants run of the game with a solo shot off LHP Jerry Blevins in the top of the seventh.

The Mets tacked 1 more on for good measure in the bottom of that inning with a Juan Lagares single to score Asdrubal Cabrera.

MVP(S) of the Game

Though Cespedes drove in six runs in that inning alone, the Mets’ offense are the collective valuable players for this one. They caught the scoring bug, and one after the other in the third inning did not relent.

15 times the Mets sent batters up to the plate in that inning, including twice each for Grandy, Wright, Conforto, Cespedes, Duda, and Walker. Well done, gents.

Unsung Hero

Ward Melville’s own Steven Matz.

Yes, the Mets gave him a bunch of runs to work with, but Matz didn’t let the Giants get anywhere close in this game.

Once more, Matz pitched six innings, giving up zero runs on seven hits and three walks with four strikeouts. Well done, sir.

Mets Defensive Gems of the Game

Some Random tidbits

Though they have been ever-so-annoying invading Citi Field whenever the Giants come back to their former town, gotta give credit where credit is due to the their fans.

They love their team and they travel well.

Also, the Mets’ mascot races last season were terrible. You want a NYC-related mascot race? Drop these cars and give us the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building with King Kong on top, the Brooklyn Bridge, and as the man we refer to on the podcast as “Long Island Mike” recommended, a pizza slice to round it out. THAT’S a NYC mascot race that can hold up to any of the others around the league. Make it happen, Mets.

A balloon. ESCAPED.

Keep an eye out for #7 on our Top 10 wins of 2016 countdown!