When the New York Mets needed it the most, after blowing a two-run 9th-inning lead, young T.J. Rivera comes through with his first home run.
- New York Mets 4 (77-68)
- Washington Nationals 3 (86-59)
- NL, Final, 10-Innings, Box Score
- National Park, Washington D.C.
For seven straight innings, it was smooth sailing for Terry Collins and his NL Wild Card battling New York Mets. They were treated to one of the better starting pitching performances they’ve seen in quite some time.
Sure, Noah Syndergaard did give up one run. What he also did, however, was fan 10 while being equipped with one of the nastiest sliders of all-time.
His final line consisted of four hits, one run, one walk and those 10 strikeouts in seven innings while throwing 99 pitches.
Thor had a slider working tonight that was beyond disgusting. #Mets #Syndergaard pic.twitter.com/i1DmQvY7Md
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) September 14, 2016
Thor, or Noah Syndergaard as some may call him, is now over 200 Ks. This slider was NASTY to end the 5th. 3-1 #Mets pic.twitter.com/4ZN4zcjPXp
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) September 14, 2016
Thor lowered his season ERA to 2.43 and like we already mentioned, it was smooth sailing.
That was, until, the 9th-inning happened and Jose Reyes inexplicably threw one wildly to the left of first baseman James Loney. Jeurys Familia wound up blowing the lead and the two NL East teams headed to extras.
With the Amazins in need of something special, young T.J. Rivera entered the fold.
Facing one of the tougher closers in the game in Mark Melancon, Rivera turned on this 0-2 cutter to launch his first big league home run:
Young #TJRivera just picked his club up in the biggest way. His 1st career HR gives the #Mets the lead in the 10th. pic.twitter.com/0c9N3U6R21
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) September 14, 2016
Rivera, receiving this surprising spot start at second base from his skipper Terry Collins, enjoyed the game of his life. He finished 3-for-4 with three runs batted in and a run scored.
Fernando Salas recorded the first two outs of the bottom of the 10th and with one man on, Jerry Blevins came in to smoke out the extremely dangerous Daniel Murphy.
Thanks to young Rivera, Mets fans can breathe again.
As far as the second wild card spot is concerned, the Mets are now a full game up on the St. Louis Cardinals who are currently in progress of a contest against the Chicago Cubs.
