On a night , it was a veteran who came through. Daniel Vogelbach’s two-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth broke the tie and gave the Amazins a 2-1 victory over the Seattle Mariners.
Vogelbach was the hero for Buck Showalter’s squad shooting a 99 mph fastball from flamethrower Andres Munoz. The designated hitters’ RBI single was the difference maker in a game that was dominated by the Mets’ ace.
Kodai Senga. The right-hander struck out a season-high 12 batters during his seven innings of work allowing just one run keeping the Mets very much in the ballgame. He became the The only blip on his line was a solo homer off the bat of shortstop J.P. Crawford in the top of the fourth inning.
The 30-year-old has been one of the very few Mets to exceed expectations as his season ERA falls down to a strong 3.08.
“Obviously, he was good,” Showalter said. “I think he kind of figured out the mode of operation with his innings and his pitches and what have you. I can kind of tell he was emptying the tank there at the end.
“That’s a good lineup and he needed all of his pitches.”
Ronny Mauricio made an emphatic impression in his first career at bat in the third. The 22-year-old smashed a 117.3 mph double over right fielder Teoscar Hernandez’s head, by far the hardest-hit ball by any Met this season, and followed up with another single in the seventh in his 2-for-3 debut.
Mauricio was called up as part of the rosters expanding on Friday. The infielder slashed .292/.346/.506 with 23 homers and 71 RBI in 116 games for Triple-A Syracuse this season.
“It was incredible,” Mauricio said. “It’s the best, honestly. It’s one of those moments that I’ll never forget. … It’s incredible honestly. It was the first ball I’ve ever hit at 117 [mph] and it came in that moment.
With the Mets trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, outfielder Brandon Nimmo smashed a solo shot to right-center to even up the game. Nimmo’s 20th homer of the season boosted his season OPS to .795 as his strong season continues.
Phil Bickford came on in relief of Senga and kept the game tied at 1 during his inning of work and Drew Smith worked a scoreless ninth to secure the victory 2-1.
Showalter will turn to southpaw David Peterson on Saturday as the Mets will look to ensure a series victory. Scott Servis will call on ace Luis Castillo (3.01 ERA) from the Mariners’ loaded pitching staff.
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