The Red Sox went to my old stomping grounds in Queens for the last time this year only to immediately get smacked in the face with a first-inning grand slam and swept out of the borough, 8-3, back to .500 and maybe out of the postseason picture.
Long story short: Tanner Houck loaded the bases before recording his first out and, after recording said out, gave up a four-bagger to Jesse Winker:
I can’t lie, folks, I didn’t love it, nor did Pod on Landsdowne Fellow Jake Wallinger, attending the game on a beautiful NYC night:
But then, in the third inning… signs of life? Led by singles from heavy hitters Enmanuel Valdez and Nick Sogard, the Sox had two on, with none out for Jarren Duran, who did what he does and hit his 44th double of the year, tops in the majors:
Sacrifice flies by Rafael Devers and Wilyer Abreu would make it 4-3 Mets, and give Wallinger et al(linger) reason to stay at Shea.*
* I’m aware
After a quick inning by Houck, Valdez again led off with a single in the fourth, prompting Megill to be pulled for Alex Young. Sogard made an out but Duran singled to put two on with one out, and… Raffy hit into a double play. Butts.
Probably for the best. Anyhoo, Houck cruised in the fifth, and Refsnyder walked to open the sixth against the lefty Young (obviously), bringing on Huascar Brazoban… who walked Tyler O’Neill, and the Sox were cooking anew with two on and none out.
Then Masa Yoshida flew out to shallow center. No big whup.
Except Triston Casas then grounded into a double play, erasing the threat.
Facts!
Zack Kelly on to replace Houck for the sixth, it went fast, and then a Connor Wong single led to a third straight inning-ending double play, courtesy of pinch-hitter Romy Gonzalez. You gotta love it! (You categorically do not have to love it.)
Justin Slaten came on for the seventh and things got a tad hinky before he squeezed out of it courtesy of a Lindor groundout. The Sox got two singles in the eighth and didn’t score, yet again, and it was bad, and the fans were happy, which was bad.
Kenley Jansen came on for the eighth and walked Brandon Nimmo before allowing a single to Mark Vientos to put two on with no outs. To rub it in, Jose Iglesias came on to run for Vientos. After a Pete Alonso strikeout and impressive bat-breaking over his knees (the “Bo Jackson”), Winker walked, loading the bases. Then Tyrone Taylor walked to make it 5-3. Pathetic! Utterly pathetic. Not sorry, Kenley. Apparently Alex Cora agreed, because he went to Rich Hill after that.
He walked Jeff McNeil to make it 6-3. Yeah, things aren’t good. In fact, his first six pitches were balls, and eventually he walked Francisco Alvarez to make it 7-3. That’s two walked-in runs after I declared things “pathetic,” if you’re keeping track. Also there was still just one out with the bases loaded. Eventually Harrison Bader merely hit a sac fly to make it 8-3 but hey, an out! This brought on Greg Weissert, with the Mets having scored four runs on one hit in the inning, and he merely gave up a frozen rope that Lindor just happened to hit toward Refsnyder to mercifully end the inning.
Edwin Diaz came on for the Mets in the ninth, just to screw with us and/or because he was already getting loose and needed work. He walked Casas to start it, but the fun, game and possibly the season ended after that with a strikeout of Wong, a popout of Valdez and strikeout of Valdez. Back to .500, back to earth, back to reality, and, likely, back to black.
