Having lost three in a row, five of six and seven of their last 10, the scuffling Mets desperately needed a spark against the Marlins on Wednesday night to shift momentum and regain some sense of control atop the NL East.
The team’s notable newcomer provided that spark in all three facets of the game.
Javier Baez, struggling at the plate since homering in his Mets debut, came up big for New York on Wednesday, lining a single up the middle in the second to start a rally that would give the Mets the lead before pulling off a Houdini slide at home to give New York a 2-0 advantage. Then, with the game tied in the eighth, the shortstop knocked a go-ahead home run to right before making a leaping catch to end the bottom of the eighth and prevent the tying run to come to the plate.
It was just the kind of contributions the Mets were hoping for when they traded for Baez just before the deadline.
“It’s exciting obviously, when it’s late in the game,” Baez said of his big home run, his second as a Met and his 24th of the year. “But I’m feeling good. Trying to get used to these guys and seeing what I can learn from them. it’s been really good. The communication has been good in the clubhouse. It just feels good to hit the ball hard late in the game.”
Baez’s big game comes one night after he went after Miami pitcher Richard Bleier following a flyout, when multiple Mets seemed to be letting the frustration of their losing streak get to them (manager Luis Rojas was ejected in the seventh for arguing balls and strikes). But Baez was focused on Wednesday, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored.
Baez appeared to be jawing at the Marlins again after his go-ahead home run, but he clarified after the game that it was not a continuation of Tuesday’s exchange.
“It was nothing to them,” Baez said. “It was to the fans really high up. It was a Spanish conversation. They were talking trash to me and it was just back and forth, having some fun.”
The home run was the most important contribution from Baez, but his slide at home was the flashiest. Leading off third base with one out in the second, Baez darted for home on a hard ground ball to first by Tomas Nido, and Jesus Aguilar’s throw home beat Baez by at least five feet, but Baez slid headfirst and pulled his left hand back while simultaneously sneaking his right hand around the tag by Alex Jackson to score the team’s second run.
“I think sometimes it just depends how fast the ball or how long the ball beats me to the bag,” Baez said. “I honestly don’t plan, I just react to it. I just switch my hands. I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s just instincts.”
Those instincts and effort plays are why the Mets brought in Baez, who brings dynamic power, fielding and baserunning to the field on a nightly basis. He hadn’t shown it all in his first week as a Met, but they were all on display Wednesday night.
“I’ve been the same every day,” Baez said. “I’m gonna be around them, I’m gonna bring my energy. We just have to stop paying attention to the things outside and focus on what we can control. I think this is one of the best teams in our division, so I think they should pay attention to us, not us to them. We just gotta slow down a little bit and just play pitch by pitch.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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