The Mets defeated the Padres 8-3 on Thursday night but the final score doesn’t accurately reflect how close the game was.
Nursing a 3-0 lead in the fifth inning, Luis Severino lost his command and allowed the Padres hitters to get traffic on the bases. A walk to the nine-hitter followed by a single and another walk loaded the bases with no outs and gave San Diego the best opportunity the team would have all game.
Jake Cronenworth stepped up to the plate and lined a 95 mph cutter toward Jose Iglesias on the right side of the infield. The ball had a 110.9 mph exit velocity and took a nasty hop on Iglesias, but the veteran infielder snatched it up before calmly tossing it to Francisco Lindor who completed the double play.
The grounder had a .720 xBA, adding to the difficulty of Iglesias’ defensive play. The ball gets by Iglesias there and the Padres score multiple runs with a chance to add on more. Instead, the double play saved the game.
“It was huge,” Carlos Mendoza said of the play after the game. “Especially when Sevy got in trouble but lost the zone a little in that inning….Cronenworth hits a bullet right at Iglesias and he makes a helluva play. That was the play of the game right there.”
“It was unbelievable,” Severino said. “To get me out of that inning there, I was trying to make a good pitch to get a groundball and [Cronenworth] hit it hard and [Iglesias] made a good play there.”
Although the Padres would score their first run on that double play, the two outs were much more valuable to the Mets, especially after Severino was able to get the third out in that fifth to hand the ball over to the bullpen.
“It was a big play. Sevy was electric all night long,” Iglesias said. “I was able to start a play, Paco [Lindor] to finish it, good stretch by Pete [Alonso] at first. It was big play to keep us in a good place.”
The score would stay 3-1 until the ninth inning when the Mets offense exploded for five runs to give them the cushion to take the first game of their four-game set with San Diego.
Iglesias finished 2-for-5 with an RBI and run scored, but the game was really about that play, which the infielder says he gets prepared to make by simply staying ready.
“You always anticipate the ball comes to you,” Iglesias explained. “It’s a big series. I was able to get it done for the guys and all-around great team win. Just very happy to contribute today.”
Thursday was the first of a 10-game road trip for the Mets. The first seven of those contests coming against the Padres and 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 up with the Braves — who are 1.5 games ahead of New York — after they won their game on Thursday night. It also clinched a season-series win 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 are dedicated to taking this ride one game and one series at a time, and plays like Iglesias’ are made because they know how important they are.
“Every game matters. We just have to take it one game at a time,” Iglesias said. “We did a pretty good job today, we have to turn the page and be ready to compete tomorrow.”