– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — The New York Mets and Pittsburgh Pirates proved on Monday night that teams separated by 12 games in the standings are where they are because of the small details that are (and aren’t) executed just as much as any other factor. On two similar plays, in two different innings, the Pirates froze, literally, when it had the chance to take the lead while the Mets went full speed ahead — and into the lead.
So even when the Mets made more like the Pirates and had a couple of uncharacteristic lapses that cost the former the lead late, they righted themselves in their last at-bat, with help from one final faux pas from Pittsburgh, to clinch another home victory.
Pete Alonso hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth as the Mets overcame a couple of defensive goofs in the top of the inning and came away with a 4-3 walk-off victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates inside Citi Field on Monday night. Two innings prior, Alonso drove home Luisangel Acuña from second base on an infield single to give New York its first lead after the latter broke for home after the ball was tipped by the glove of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes and rolled into the shallow outfield.
The Mets were able to keep up pitch-for-pitch with Pirates ace Paul Skenes for six innings, then took that lead they earned in the seventh into the ninth for auxiliary closer Huascar Brazobán, who was spelling regular closer Edwin Díaz for tonight.
New York, literally, let the win slip from their fingers soon thereafter. Francisco Lindor botched a ground ball that would have been a surefire double play with no out in the ninth and a runner on first, putting the Pirates in business. Then Acuna, with the infield in and runners on second and third, could not handle a sharp ground ball cleanly that would have, at the very least, forced a play at the plate to try and cut down the tying run.
Lindor did his part in making amends, reaching base on an error from shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa with one out before Juan Soto’s single put runners at the corners.
Alsonso then sent a medium-deep fly ball into right field to end the game and extend New York’s home record to 16-4, second-best in the majors.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Monday evening’s game, with photos taken by staff photographer Gregory Fisher. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 36 pictures in total.
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