OAKLAND — Brandon Nimmo played the hero on Saturday against the Oakland A’s, beating one of his former Mets teammates in a 3-2 win, and Mark Canha’s late-game home run against his old team gave his new one a chance.
There appeared to be a hangover effect of sorts for the Mets after a long, eventful game Friday night. The Mets took the series opener 17-6 but it didn’t feel like much of a win with the way the pitching staff was taxed and the elbow injury to Stephen Nogosek.
Much of the second game of the series felt like a slog, but once the Mets (9-6) got to the Oakland bullpen they were able to get what they needed for the victory.
With two out and one on and the game tied 2-2 in the seventh inning, Nimmo took the first pitch he saw from former Mets’ right-hander Trevor May and pulled it down the line for an RBI double. Tim Locastro came home for the go-ahead run.
“Nimmo had a big hit for us and Pete [Alonso] and Mark Canha got us where we needed to be,” said manager Buck Showalter. “It was a well-played game. Five hits for each team, something like that and no errors.
“It’s a game that’s not easy to win.”
Carlos Carrasco was tagged for two early on before settling down through the next three, showing improved command and an improved slider.
“I was just trying to keep the game really close,” he said. “And we ended up winning the game.”
Carlos Carrasco only allowed two earned runs, with both coming in the second inning, before settling down through the next three.
The two runs were almost enough. The Mets had only managed one — a solo shot by Pete Alonso off right-hander Shintaro Fujinami (0-3) in the fourth inning — until the seventh inning when Canha homered to tie the game at 2-2.
A Bay Area native, Canha played college baseball just down the road in Berkeley at Cal and came up with the A’s, playing seven seasons in Oakland before signing with the Mets as a free agent prior to last season.
“I’ve hit a few here,” Canha said. “It’s a ballpark that I love to play at. I’ve always loved playing here and running around those bases was a familiar feeling, for sure.”
Alonso’s seven home runs tie him for the MLB lead with Boston’s Rafael Devers and put him at the top of the National League leaderboard. The rest of the Mets combined have seven.
Carrasco was much better this time out than the last two times, limiting Oakland those two second-inning runs on four hits, walking two and striking out three over five innings. Since his last start against the Miami Marlins, the right-hander had been working to throw more strikes and limit walks and he did exactly that.
“Everything felt good today,” Carrasco said. “I only had that one inning. They got two runs and I was able to stop it right there. My slider was way better today, the way I wanted it to be.”
It was a much more encouraging start than the first two.
“I was proud of him,” Showalter said. “He saw somebody warming up over there [in the bullpen] in the fourth inning and he made some good pitches. He’s a competitive guy. It was nice to see him make a big contribution to the win today.”
Carrasco didn’t factor into the decision after Canha’s home run, but he likely showed what he needed to show to stave off some questions for another five days.
Fujinami was throwing in the upper 90s, consistently sitting 97-98 with his fastball. He was sharp the first time through the order but started to waver the second time through and was hit hard the third time.
After giving up the home run to Canha, he faced one more batter before being removed in favor of May, walking Daniel Vogelbach. Locastro pinch-ran for the DH and stole second, putting him in position to score easily on Nimmo’s two-out double.
There was some sloppy defense in the later innings and the bullpen had to pitch around a few jams, but it was nothing that proved costly. Drew Smith (1-0), Brooks Raley and Adam Ottavino held the lead for David Robertson, who converted his third save of the season.
()
