From the first inning of this game you could see Aaron Nola had his best stuff stranding runners on second and third while striking out the side. In fact he struck out 10 consecutive Mets tying the Major League Record with Tom Seaver. And he even drove in a run with a 5th inning RBI double to give the visiting Phils a 1-0 lead. But this Met team NEVER quits and showed that during this game.
Taijuan Walker gave the Mets a great performance giving up 1 run in his five innings of work and the Mets kept battling finally plating a run in the bottom of the 7th inning on an RBI single from Francisco Lindor pushing the teams to extra innings (Remember doubleheaders are 7 inning contests).
In that first extra frame, Seth Lugo was incredible striking out Rhys Hoskins, JT Realmuto and Andrew McCutcheon with that extra inning runner standing on second base. Lugo featured a curveball danced in and out of the strike zone giving the Mets a chance in the bottom of the inning.
And The Mets wasted no time getting a RBI single from Dominic Smith that scored the winning run in walk off fashion. This game illustrated the drive and determination we have seen from the Mets all year. They scratch and claw to get a win even in the most trying of circumstances On this day, Aaron Nola was dealing and even pulled a Jabob deGrom providing offense in addition to his stellar pitching but the Mets refused to lose.
Taijuan Walker said it best after the game when he commented, “Nola was dealing and our bullpen did a great job as well as both Lindor and Smith who came up with big hits.” This Met team has heroes from every corner of their clubhouse and a game like today illustrates that point as they do the little things that add up to victories. And they continue to play well both inside the NL East winning 17 of the 30 games inside the division and here at CitiField they are an astounding 23-9.
Those two concepts breed division winning baseball and as the schedule has gotten more challenging the Mets have responded despite all of the injuries. And that was illustrated very nicely in Game 1 of the twin bill at CitiField versus the Phillies.
