OAKLAND, Calif. — Brandon Nimmo played the hero on Saturday against the Oakland A’s, beating one of his former Mets teammates in a 3-2 win.
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.
Carlos Carrasco allowed only 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 former A’s outfielder Mark Canha homered to tie the game at 2-2.
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 to two 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. It was a much more encouraging start than the first two.
He didn’t factor into the decision after Canha’s home run in the seventh. Fujinami 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.
