They were running out of pitching. Well, they really had run out of pitching, since an injury to Edwin Díaz had forced Carlos Mendoza to tap into the “absolutely not using them on Wednesday” portion of the bullpen.
That was Max Kranick, who responded by getting the biggest outs of the game in the top of the 10th inning.
Pete Alonso — “sick as a dog” in Brandon Nimmo’s view — tied the score in the bottom of the 10th with an RBI double after flailing futilely at the first two Jordan Romano offerings. Starling Marte, so far living uncomfortably as a reserve player, won the game when his bat, he said, broke into “1,000 pieces,” but held together long enough to float a winning RBI single beyond second baseman Bryson Stott’s reach.
The Mets in the offseason signed Juan Soto to the richest contract in North American sports history and triumphantly re-signed Sean Manaea and especially Alonso. But the greatest acquisition for this franchise cannot be found on a transaction page. Somewhere between the surge of late last season and now, the Mets have obtained the belief that things will work out in the end.
