A no-doubt-about-it home run from Wilmer Flores in the ninth provided the New York Mets with their fourth straight victory at home.
- New York Mets 6 (45-50)
- Oakland A’s 5 (43-54)
- MLB, Final, Box Score
- Citi Field, Flushing, Queens, New York
This one, folks, had no chance to stay inside the ballpark:
And with it came Wilmer Flores’s second career walk-off home run.
We all remember his first, of course. It came two seasons ago providing tears of joy just a day after tears of misery as Wilmer manned his shortstop position crying over a rumored trade that would have sent him to Milwaukee for Carlos Gomez.
His second such game-ender, coming Saturday night, provided the New York Mets with their fourth straight victory. They are now 6-3 on the homestand that Sandy Alderson so bluntly told the world was ultra critical in determining his course of action for the rest of the 2017 campaign.
Early on, it was rough. Starter Zach Wheeler relented four runs in the top of the first inning. Oakland A’s leadoff man Matt Joyce got the party started for the American League team with a home run.
The A’s added another in the fourth inning to make the scoreboard read a lopsided 5-0.
The Mets bats responded in a big way. A four-run sixth inning and a run in the bottom of the eighth pulled New York even. Jay Bruce smacked his 25th home run of the season, a two-run shot in that sixth that seemed to energize an entire dugout.
Lucas Duda then singled in the game-tying run in the eighth, scoring Travis d’Arnaud.
Wheeler’s final line of seven hits and five runs in just five innings of work was covered up by a brilliant effort from the bullpen. Josh Smoker, Josh Edgin and Hansel Robles combined to pitch four scoreless innings leading up to Flores’s walk-off dinger.
d’Arnaud, the man who came home to tie the game in the eighth, finished with a team high three hits on a nice 3-for-3 evening. Jose Reyes, Michael Conforto, Asdrubal Cabrera and Flores each collected two hits.
Next up for the red hot Mets will be the series capper against Oakland on Sunday afternoon. First pitch comes your way at 1:10 p.m. ET from Flushing.