He Mets Defeated the Padres 8-3 on Thursday night But the final result does not accurately reflect how close the match was.
With a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, Luis Severino He lost control and allowed Padres hitters to get traffic on the bases. A walk to the nine-hit pitcher followed by a single and another walk loaded the bases with no outs and gave San Diego the best chance the team would have all game.
Jake Cronenworth He got to work and lined up a 95 mph cutter Jose Churchs on the right side of the infield. The ball had an exit velocity of 110.9 mph and bounced violently off Iglesias, but the veteran infielder grabbed it before calmly throwing it to Francisco Lindor who completed the double play.
The grounder had a .720 batting average, which added to Iglesias’ defensive game. The ball got away from Iglesias and the Padres scored multiple runs with the chance to add more. Instead, the double play saved the game.
“It was huge” Carlos Mendoza He said of the play after the game. “Especially when Sevy got into trouble but lost the zone a little bit on that drive… Cronenworth hits a throw right to Iglesias and he makes an unbelievable play. That was the play of the game.”
“It was unbelievable,” Severino said. “To get out of that inning, I tried to make a good pitch to get a ground ball and (Cronenworth) hit it hard and (Iglesias) made a good play.”
Although the Padres would score their first run on that double play, the two outs were far more valuable to the Mets, especially after Severino was able to get the third out in that fifth to deliver the ball to the bullpen.
“It was a great play. Sevy was electrifying all night,” Iglesias said. “I was able to start a play, Paco (Lindor) finished it, good run.” Pete (Alonso) “At first it was an important play to keep us in a good position.”
The score would remain 3-1 until the ninth inning when the Mets’ offense exploded for five runs to give them the lead to take the first game of their four-game series with San Diego.
Iglesias finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, but the game really came down to that play, which the infielder says he prepares to make by simply staying ready.
“You always anticipate the ball coming to you,” Iglesias said. “It’s an important series. I was able to do it for the guys and it was a great team win. I’m very happy to have contributed today.”
Thursday was the first of a 10-game road trip for the Mets. The first seven of those games will be against the Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who the Mets trail in the wild-card race.
With the win, the Mets are now 4.5 games behind the Padres and kept pace with the Braves, who are 1.5 games ahead of New York after winning their game Thursday night. They also secured a win in the season series against the Padres, which can be used as a tiebreaker at the end of the year.
But Iglesias and the Mets aren’t thinking that far ahead. They’re dedicated to taking on this challenge one game and one series at a time, and plays like Iglesias’ are made because they know how important they are.
“Every game is important. We have to take it one game at a time,” Iglesias said. “We did a good job today, we have to turn the page and be ready to compete tomorrow.”