Wilmer Flores’s ground ball up the middle had double play written all over it. Flores busted it out of the box, hoping to beat the throw. Neil Walker darted home, expecting to head out for the 12th inning. Mets manager Terry Collins prepared himself for more work.
And who could blame them for expecting the worst, considering how much has gone wrong for the Mets, in this game and this season? Except, for once, the worst possible outcome wasn’t the result.
Padres second baseman Ryan Schimpf inexplicably threw home upon fielding the ball near the base rather than going for two. His throw tailed well off to the third base side of the plate, and Walker slid home for the game-winning run, capping a wacky 3-2 win in 11 innings.
“I guess we caught a little bit of a break there. So hopefully it will be a bit of a catapult for us,” Walker said after the Mets snapped a four-game losing streak.
Schimpf agreed, admitting he should have gone for the double play against the slow-footed Flores. Instead, his off-target throw resulted in the Mets’ third walk-off win of the season.
“We had a chance to turn two and it was the wrong play,” he said.
The victory gives the Mets a chance to win a series for the first time since June 22-24 with a victory on Sunday, and gets them back to .500 after falling below that mark on Friday for the first time since mid-April. The Mets also pulled to within 2 ¹/₂ games of the Cardinals for the second NL wild-card spot.
“It’s not all been tough luck, but we’ve lost so many tough games, so many close games late in the game,” Collins said. “So we’re just hoping this turns the tide, and we start winning some of those games, and get ourselves on a big roll.”
Until Schimpf’s miscue, it was looking like another one of those pain-filled losses for the Mets. Jacob deGrom was brilliant again over seven innings, allowing just a Yangervis Solarte solo homer while striking out nine and giving up just three hits. He was in line for the victory until closer Jeurys Familia served up a two-out, game-tying gopher ball to Wil Myers.
“You’re kind of shaking your head, like, ‘How did this happen?’ ” Walker said, referring to a series of bad breaks rather than criticizing Familia, who has blown three of his past six save chances.
When Familia walked off the mound, he was greeted by heavy boos, the same boos Travis d’Arnaud and Curtis Granderson heard when they ended the ninth and 10th innings, respectively. The atmosphere at Citi Field was venomous until the 11th. That’s when the home fans had a reason to cheer for the first time on this short homestand.
After rookie Gabriel Ynoa worked a perfect 11th on the same day he was called up from Triple-A Las Vegas, Walker started the home frame with a single off Padres reliever Brandon Maurer. He went to third on James Looney’s soft single after getting a great read on the ball. It set it up for Flores, who didn’t hit the ball cleanly, but also didn’t strike out.
“Definitely I thought they were going to turn two, but it’s one of the things about putting the ball in play,” said Flores, who registered his fifth walk-off RBI. “Anything can happen.”
Though the last play was fortunate, the Mets felt they earned this break. After Collins harshly called them out following the sweep at the hands of the Diamondbacks on Thursday, the Mets nearly rallied from an eight-run deficit on Friday. But on Saturday, they responded after losing the lead in the seventh and ninth innings.
“We battled hard yesterday, we battled hard today,” Walker said. “Like we were saying [on Friday], this game is not easy right now. We’re grinding away. This is what character is all about.”