OAKLAND, Calif. — The Athletics won’t be mistaken for a major league operation anytime soon, so the Mets have little excuse if they fail to sweep this weekend series.
For much of Saturday afternoon, manager Buck Showalter’s crew looked lethargic and willing to let the underwhelming A’s steal a game.
Finally, however, a late-inning surge got the Mets two-thirds of the way toward that goal.
Using one part power and one part grinding at-bats, with solid bullpen work at the end, the Mets rallied for a 3-2 victory that gave them a three-game winning streak for the first time this season.
This one wasn’t nearly as easy as the laugher Friday night in which the Mets (9-6) set a franchise record by drawing 17 walks. The Mets scraped for the necessary runs on Saturday and Adam Ottavino and David Robertson escaped trouble in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to give Oakland its 12th loss in 15 games to begin the season.
“Anybody can beat anybody on any given day and I think that has to be our attitude this series and every day,” Mark Canha said. “It’s got to be a faceless opponent, I think.”
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Canha’s homer leading off the seventh inning awoke the Mets, who had only three hits to that point. The blast to left field that tied the score 2-2 provided a nice homecoming for Canha, who came to the Mets before last season after spending seven years with Oakland.
“For me personally, it does mean a little bit extra,” Canha said. “I want to win these games, so it felt really good to get that one.”
But the Mets weren’t finished in the inning. After Daniel Vogelbach walked to end Shintaro Fujinami’s afternoon, pinch-runner Tim Locastro stole second and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s double against Trevor May, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead.
Ottavino walked two batters in the eighth, but left them stranded. In the ninth, with the tying run on third base, Robertson was called for a pitch-clock violation while ahead in the count 0-2 to Kevin Smith. Robertson rebounded to deliver a called third strike on the next pitch to end the game.
“It’s a real tribute to why you like solid veteran pitchers,” Showalter said. “A lot of people would think they made a pitch to end the game and let it turn into something else and he came back with a well-placed fastball.”
In a bounce-back performance, Carlos Carrasco pitched five-plus innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits with a walk and two hit batters. It marked the first time in three starts this season the right-hander had completed five innings. In his previous two starts, Carrasco had surrendered five runs against the Brewers and six runs against the Marlins.
“I’m really happy because the first two games I had a lot [of walks],” Carrasco said. “That is when there is a lot of damage and I give up a lot of runs.”
Carrasco fell into a 2-0 hole in the second inning after Aledyms Diaz’s double put runners on second and third with nobody out. Conner Capel’s RBI groundout put the A’s ahead before Carlos Perez was hit by a pitch with two outs and Esteury Ruiz delivered a single for the second run.
In the fourth, Carrasco plunked Ruiz to load the bases with two outs, but escaped by retiring Tony Kemp. The threat started with Jesus Aguilar’s double and a walk to Perez with two outs.
Pete Alonso’s homer in the fourth pulled the Mets within 2-1. The blast was the seventh this season for Alonso, who has sizzled in his limited appearances in this ballpark: In five games in Oakland, he has homered three times and driven in eight runs.
Starling Marte was drilled by a pitch to begin the sixth inning and stole second. The ensuing batter, Francisco Lindor, tried to walk on ball three, but was called back to the box after a consultation by umpires. Lindor’s ground out moved Marte to third, but he was left stranded as Fujinami retired Alonso and Jeff McNeil in succession.
