After dropping their first game after the MLB All-Star break, Michael Conforto and the New York Mets have now won three in a row.
The New York Mets picked up right where they left off. In the first of a short two-game set in Minnesota against the Twins, the Amazins earned a third-straight victory with a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night.
Making his first start since June 29, Steven Matz was good enough to hold the fort down. The left-hander threw 68 pitches over four innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked only one and struck out two.
The real story, though, was the work of the usually undependable bullpen. Six Mets relievers combined to throw five shutout innings as the Mets beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2.
Luis Avilan (2-0) picked up the win. Entering with two outs in the fifth, Avilan left with two outs in the sixth. Edwin Diaz made it interesting, but he recorded his 21st save of the year. Allowing an infield single to Marwin Gonzalez in the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded with two outs for one of the game’s most feared sluggers, Nelson Cruz.
Diaz got Cruz to foul out to third and New York took the first of a two-game series against one of the American League’s better teams.
Just 2-12 over his last three games, Michael Conforto snapped out of it with a 4-4 night. His RBI single to score Amed Rosario in the fifth ended up being the difference in the game.
Robinson Cano got the scoring started with a sacrifice fly that scored Jeff McNeil in the first. Conforto scored the club’s other run on an error by Jonathan Schoop after singling in Rosario.
Now eight games under .500, the Mets would not have won on Tuesday without Conforto’s four hits. The rest of the team combined for only three hits.
Listen, infield/ballclub chatter is usual; but, remember, Pete Alonso is a ROOKIE. Watch him after the crazy at-bat that led to the walk, and then again as he hangs around on the mound and says something to Edwin Diaz. And then again after it's all over.
Kid is a leader. #LGM pic.twitter.com/gQULGh6UOq
— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) July 17, 2019
Leaping into the wall for a catch vs. a four-hit performance.
Which version of @mconforto8 is your Amazin' Met of the Game? pic.twitter.com/zKIZj6Jvjl
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 17, 2019
WINnesota! ??? #MetsWin
FINAL: #Mets 3 – Minnesota 2
Box: https://t.co/fx9qBiuQPD pic.twitter.com/R5Sl1pkXL5
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 17, 2019
Jason Vargas (3-5, 4.23 ERA) will look to secure the Mets’ first sweep on Wednesday since taking four straight from the Washington Nationals on May 20-23.
Vargas will be opposed by fellow lefty Martin Perez (8-3, 4.26). Following a brutal 2018 season with the Texas Rangers, Perez has bounced back nicely for the first-place Twins.
With a four-game set in San Francisco vs. the Giants beginning on Thursday, Wednesday’s game will begin at 1:10 p.m. ET to allow New York some travel time.
