Max Scherzer's gem caps Mets' doubleheader sweep of Giants
Mets' Max Scherzer is congratulated by teammates as he comes into the dugout in the 7th inning of his game against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field on April 19, 2022 in Game 2 of a doubleheader. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara
You don’t have to be around professional baseball for 45 years like Buck Showalter has been to know that Tuesday’s matchup against the Giants was primed to be a good one. But give the Mets manager points for his prognosticating, anyway.
“They have good players,” Showalter said before Game 1 of the doubleheader. “We have good players. It’s going to be fun to watch.”
It sure was. All 10 innings of Game 1 against a team that won 107 games last season. And every second of Max Scherzer’s no-hit bid in Game 2 – one that ended in the sixth but nonetheless put a thrill in the crowd for his Citi Field debut.
Pete Alonso’s toe, Francisco Lindor’s bat, and a replay analyst by the name of Harrison Friedland combined to help the Mets win Game 1, 5-4, in extra innings for their first walk-off of the year. And Scherzer pitched seven innings of one-hit, one-run ball in the Mets 3-1 win in Game 2 – an effort that put them at 9-3, making them the first team to have that many wins in this young season.
First, the walk-off: With runners on the corners and one out in the 10th, Lindor lined an RBI single up the middle to score ghost runner Brandon Nimmo with the winning run and trigger the raucous celebration near the first-base bag – the second such celebration of the inning.
Just a half inning earlier, with runners on the corners and two outs, Thairo Estrada hit a bouncer to shortstop and Lindor botched the throw, forcing Alonso to stretch and then fall toward the first-base line. Estrada was originally ruled safe – a play that meant the runner on third, Brandon Belt, scored with the go-ahead run – but Showalter challenged the call and the replay showed that the sprawling Alonso kept his toe on the bag, prompting Alonso to fist pump and scream all the way to the dugout.
It was Showalter’s second successful challenge of Game 1 – that one saved a run while the other, which negated a Mets double play in the fifth, helped them score two. Lindor, who was 4-for-9 with a stolen base over the two games, also tied Game 1 with a double in a three-run fifth. He’s reached base in all 12 games.
He did it in Game 2, too. Lindor hit a one-out double to kick things off in the third inning, Alonso walked, and Eduardo Escobar lined a double to right to score them both – the second run coming thanks to Alonso’s heads-up running and even better slide. Dominic Smith added an RBI single to make it 3-0.
“Tonight was a good night for us in a long season, in a long challenge,” Showalter said. “To see our guys – Max was the pickup force after such an emotional challenge [in Game 1]. To climb back in that first one and finally figure out a way at the end, and to have Max there” for Game 2. “That second game was big.”
Scherzer looked completely untouchable for the better part of six innings – the only baserunner through 5 2/3, a third-inning walk. But after striking out the first two batters in the sixth, he allowed back-to-back walks to bring up Darin Ruf, who lined a clean RBI single to left to cut the lead to 3-1. Scherzer became the first Mets starter to go seven, allowing one hit and one run with three walks and 10 strikeouts; it was the 105th double-digit strikeout game of his career.
It was the first time he’s ever pitched in the second game of a straight doubleheader, he said, and though it was difficult to get into a routine because of the uncertain start time, Scherzer said he requested it.
“Obviously, they make the calls,” he said. “I like knowing where the bullpen situation is at. There’s different things you can do to try to get more length if need be. I kind of like having that pressure…For me, I already had seven innings circled. That was the mark I really, really wanted to hit.”
A similar type of unselfish baseball was on display in Game 1, too. The Mets were down 4-1 before coming back in the fifth behind some collaborative hitting and good fundamentals.
J.D. Davis led off the inning with a single off starter Alex Cobb and Travis Jankowski grounded into what looked to be a 3-6-1 double play, but the speedy Jankowski was ruled safe after a review. James McCann followed with a double to the leftfield corner, and Jeff McNeil got in on the fun with a two-run double to the rightfield corner. Lindor then scored McNeil on a hustle double to tie it.
“It’s what it’s all about," Game 1 starter Tylor Megill said. "The team is just grinding at-bats out, not trying to do too much. We’re just collectively passing the baton down and look what happened. We came back and won. That’s awesome.”
Laura Albanese is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. She's been covering MLB since 2014 after starting at Newsday as an intern seven years earlier.
