• Thu. Mar 28th, 2024
(Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports)

By: Keith Harrison

Jenrry Mejia made his season debut Friday night for the New York Metropolitans against Mike Leake and the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets were looking for their first win of the season after getting swept 3 games by the Washington Nationals to start the year.

Jenrry Mejia looked fantastic early. It was evident from the first batter that Mejia had his ‘A-Game’ tonight. Leading off was Roger Bernadina who struck out looking on an absolutely filthy Jenrry Mejia slider on the inside corner of the plate. Up next was Brandon Phillips who hit a deep fly ball to the warning track in left field. Just as it looked like the ball was about to go out, Eric Young Jr. leapt up and robbed Philips of a home run with a tremendous catch at the wall. Up third was Joey Votto, who Mejia would make look absolutely foolish at the plate. Mejia offered Votto nothing but his premium ‘stuff’. Mejia gets Votto to strike out swinging on an unbelievable breaking pitch. Citi Field is buzzing after those two strikes outs by Mejia.

Moving on to the top of the 3rd, Mejia gets the pitcher Mike Leake to ground out to third, one away. Up next is Roger Bernadina who walks on 4 pitches. Brandon Phillips then hits a sharp come backer off of Jenrry Mejia’s foot, d’Arnaud scrambles to the ball and throws out Phillips at first. Bernadina advances to second on the play. Joey Votto walks. Then Jay Bruce slaps a single to right center field, Bernadina scores from second, Votto goes from first to third. Reds lead 1-0. Ryan Ludwick grounds out to third to end the inning.

Bottom of the 4th, Curtis Granderson leads off the inning with a double down the third base line away from the shift. Lucas Duda is up next, he crushes a 2 run homer to right center! Mets take the lead 2-1.

David Wright leads off the bottom of the 6th with a grounder to short, Ramon Santiago knocks it down but cannot make the play at first as Wright beats out the throw. Up next is Curtis Granderson who hits a deep fly ball hard to right. Jay Bruce makes an impressive over the shoulder catch, Wright wasn’t tagging up and has to scramble to get back to first base. Lucas Duda is up next, he’s back to do some more damage. Duda was anointed the starting first baseman today, at least temporarily, and he sure made the most of it. Duda proceeds to hit his second 2-run home run of the day to right field, Mets lead 4-1.

Top of the 7th, John Lannan on in relief for Jenrry Mejia. Lannan gets Roger Bernadina to strike out swinging to start the inning. Brandon Philips hits the ball down the third base line into left field, Eric Young makes a nice play to cut it off and hold Philips to a single. Joey Votto hits a check swing tapper to third base, Wright throws him out at first, Philips advances to second on the play. Then John Lannan continues his struggles to begin the season. Jay Bruce crushes a 2 run home run to right center. 4-3 Mets. Kyle Farnsworth is on in relief for Lannan and Anthony Recker comes into the game at catcher in a  double switch. Farnsworth gets Ludwick to strike out swinging to end the inning.

Moving on to the top of the 9th, Mets still lead 4-3, Jose Valverde comes running out of the bull pen filled with energy to try to close out the game and pick up a save to give the Mets their first win of the season. He gets Chris Heisley, who came into the game as part of a double switch in the bottom of the 7th, to ground out to short stop. Valverde then walks Roger Bernadina. It’s apparent that Valverde’s fastball isn’t as crisp as it was on opening day. Up next is Brandon Philips who smacks a single to left center, Juan Lagares makes a very impressive play to cut it off and hold Bernadina to second. Is the Mets bullpen about to implode and blow the game just like they did on opening day? I don’t think so! Valverde gets Joey Votto to pop up on the first pitch of the at bat to left field along the foul line. The Mets are now 1 out away from getting their first win of the season. Valverde then comes up huge and gets Jay Bruce to strike out swinging to end the game.

The Mets WIN by a final score of 4-3. Mejia picks up the win, overall he had an impressive first outing of the season. He showed off some of his premium ‘stuff’ striking out a career high 8 batters, but he also struggled with his control, walking 5. Mike Leake gets the loss for the Reds. Valverde picks up his first save of the year. The Mets improve to 1-3 on the season and look forward to tomorrow afternoon when they send Dillon Gee to the hill in the second game of this series against Johnny Cueto and the Reds. First pitch is 1:10 pm.

Keith Harrison : PureSportsNY

By Vernon McKenzie

Graduate of New Institute Of Technology with a BA in Communications with a focus on Television Radio. Owner and Executive Producer of PureSportsNY

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