In today’s newsletter: A historic win, Luis Torrens (likely) secures his roster spot, and a forthcoming roster shakeup.
The Name’s Torrens, Luis Torrens
No game in Major League Baseball history has ever ended quite like the Mets’ 6-5 win over the Phillies on Sunday afternoon, so it makes sense that’s what the fans at London Stadium were treated to in the second game of the abbreviated special series.
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With the bases loaded and one out, and the Phillies down by one run in the bottom on the 9th, Nick Castellanos broke his bat on a Drew Smith curveball. He nubbed the ball a couple of feet in front of home plate, requiring catcher Luis Torrens to awkwardly jump up to get the ball, step on home and then fire to first to try and nab Castellanos while Garrett Stubbs slid into his legs. The throw was low but it was dug out by Pete Alonso to complete of the wilder game-ending double plays you’ll ever see.
Torrens’ incredible effort helped the Mets avoid a rough London series sweep and yet another bullpen meltdown. Instead, their furious 9th inning rally held up and they got to have a happy flight over the Atlantic back to New York.
Things did not start well as José Quintana allowed the first three batters he faced to reach base. He managed to limit the 1st inning damage to one run — thanks to a well-turned double play on a grounder hit by Alec Bohm — but he was not sharp and, like Sean Manaea on Saturday, didn’t make it out of the 4th inning. The Phillies added two more in the 4th on a double by Edmundo Sosa and single by Whit Merrifield which made it 3-0.
Quintana gave up six hits and two walks in his abbreviated start, relying on five groundouts to make his final line a little more palatable even though back-to-back starts of four innings or fewer from your Opening Day starter is unacceptable. His ERA is now 5.29 and it’s worth questioning whether he deserves a rotation spot going forward with Tylor Megill and David Peterson, and with Christian Scott waiting in Syracuse.
To the Mets’ credit, they hung around. Former friend Taijuan Walker shoved for the first five innings as New York was oddly selective, taking called third-strikes over and over again. But, a Torrens single and Pete Alonso walk in the 6th, chasing Walker as Rob Thomson turned to his bullpen. It turned out to be the wrong move to take out Walker after just 79 pitches because New York hit Gregory Soto hard. Brandon Nimmo poked a double into left field to score Torrens and the next batter, J.D. Martinez, tied things up with a line drive single to left-center.
The Mets threatened again in the 7th against Matt Strahm as Jeff McNeil — in his first start in a week — singled and Mark Vientos walked. Torrens, Francisco Lindor and Alonso were retired, though, opening the door for Philadelphia to take the lead in the bottom of the frame on a David Dahl solo shot off the usually reliable Dedniel Nuñez. It felt as if the Mets squandered their chance to strike ahead before having to deal with the Phillies’ strong back-end of the bullpen.
They went down in order against Jeff Hoffman in the 8th but immediately got to closer José Alvarado in the 9th down 4-3. Tyrone Taylor drew an incredible nine-pitch walk, McNeil singled up the middle and Mark Vientos chopped a perfect 65-footer down the third base line to score Taylor and reach base with an infield single. Torrens then walked to load the bases, with no outs, for Lindor.
He went down on a cutter in the dirt, leaving it up to Alonso to try and push New York ahead. He too found himself with a 2-2 yet was fortunate enough to be high on the thigh with an errant Alvarado cutter, forcing in the go-ahead run — akin to the game-tying HBP issued by Edwin Díaz to Alec Bohm at Citi Field back on May 13th. The Mets got even more luck when J.T. Realmuto couldn’t handle an Alvarado cutter when Brandon Nimmo came up to bat, as the passed ball let pinch-runner Jose Iglesias score. However, neither Nimmo nor Martinez could add any insurance as they struck out and grounded out.
So, Reed Garrett was called upon for his second inning of work to try and close out Philadelphia. Of course, he couldn’t make things easy, allowing a single to Christian Pache and hitting Realmuto after getting Kyle Schwarber to pop out. Carlos Mendoza then turned to Drew Smith, who hadn’t pitched since last Monday. He promptly allowed a single to Bryce Harper and bases-loaded walk to Bohm, making it 6-5.
It had all the trappings of a trademark 2024 Mets loss until Smith’s breaking ball shattered Castellanos’ bat, forcing Torrens to make one of the more athletic plays you’ll ever see from a backstop. It was only the 8th time in MLB history that a game ended on a double play started by the catcher and the first-ever game-winning 2-3 double play (from catcher to first base) in recorded MLB history — per MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo.
What To Note
Rough trip for the starting pitching. Quintana’s start was more concerning than Manaea’s because Quintana was never able to get on track and he really put the bullpen behind the eight-ball once again. Between the strike zone nibbling and inability to put batters away, it’s just a bad combination and it may force the Mets’ hand because they have so many rotation options.
The bullpen actually did a decent job until Garrett and Smith almost combined to blow it in the 9th. Danny Young got a big strikeout of Realmuto in the 4th, Nuñez pitched well again (besides the Dahl home run), Jake Diekman got a few outs and Garrett pitched a clean 8th. It’ll really help to have Edwin Díaz back — Tuesday is the likely return date for him and Francisco Álvarez — in the mix.
Good for McNeil who had two hits after being benched for Jose Iglesias for all of the Nationals series and on Saturday. He expands this lineup a lot and even getting a little production from him goes a long way.
Torrens has pretty much forced the Mets to keep him over Tomás Nido when Álvarez is back. That has pretty much everything to do with how good Torrens has been offensively and behind the plate (as well as a couple of feet in front of it) and nothing to do with Nido, whose bat has picked up as of late. There’s just no way the Mets can cut bait with Torrens after he has singlehandedly won multiple games for them in the past week.
Expect a Nido DFA (he’s out of options) when Álvarez is likely activated on Tuesday as well as a bullpen option of Nuñez or Young when Díaz is brought back up. Also, Brett Baty has been returned to Syracuse after serving as the 27th man for the London series. I wouldn’t be surprised to see further moves on Tuesday as the Mets potentially re-configure the rotation. Scott can be recalled later this week once 15 days pass from his May 31st option date.
Looking Ahead
The Mets have Monday off to get used to being back on Eastern time before hosting the Marlins for three and the Padres for three. Tylor Megill gets the start on Tuesday night against Jesús Luzardo at 7:10 p.m. on SNY. It’s a big homestand for New York as they try to climb back to .500.
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