Gut Reaction: Mets 4, Nationals 3 (6/12/25)
The Mets raced out to a four-run lead but had to survive a shaky ninth inning from two different relievers. The end result was a 4-3 win and a sweep over the Nationals Thursday afternoon at Citi Field. The Mets are now 21 games over .500 at 45-24.
Everything was going great early on. Jeff McNeil hit a three-run homer and Brandon Nimmo added a solo shot. Meanwhile, Kodai Senga was absolutely cruising. At least until Pete Alonso made another terrible throw, one that Senga had to reach behind him and over his head. Senga caught the ball, came down on the base and immediately grabbed his hamstring. He was down on the ground for a bit but finally got up and walked off the field. No word yet on how serious the injury is.
Jose Castillo came on and got out of the sixth inning thanks to a terrific diving catch by Tyrone Taylor. .Huascar Brazoban came up with a strong 1.2 scoreless innings, turning the ball over to Ryne Stanek for the ninth.
Stanek gave up a walk and three balls all with an exit velocity over 100 mph. – no cheapies. The Nationals ended the Mets’ scoreless inning streak at 22 IP. Edwin Diaz relieved Stanek and had trouble throwing strikes. He allowed two inherited runners to score but got the save.
It would have been heartbreaking to lose this one. And that’s still on the table, with the unknown injury status for Senga.
The Mets are now 15-3 in their last 18 games. They’ll take a step up in quality, as they start a three-game series against the Rays, with Clay Holmes starting the series at 7:10 Friday night.
I looked up Stanek's splits by inning and he consistently has done better in earlier innings than late. So far this year his ERA for each inning are:
6th 0.00 (faced 1 batter and got a DP)
7th 2.70
8th 1.23
9th 7.04
Career wise it is:
6th 2.63
7th 3.24
8th 3.76
9th 5.30
Extras 7.50
He has pitched earlier in games in his career, as he got some starts as an opener, but I left those out to focus on the innings he will typically pitch for the Mets.
Seems to me he should be a middle inning/set up guy and keep him away from the 9th or later.
The Mets had a 10.5 game lead and were in first place on June 1st 2022. They won 101 games that year and finished second. Don't count your chickens before they hatch.