Starling Marte's hustle single in 10th lifts Mets over D-backs 6-5
PHOENIX — Not even a surprising bullpen blowup could knock the New York Mets off course.
Starling Marte legged out an RBI single — confirmed by a video review — in the 10th inning that helped the Mets move past a blown four-run lead and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-5 on Friday night.
"We'll take it," Mets manager Buck Showalter said.
Marte's hustle single, scoring Jeff McNeil, was needed after New York's bullpen gave up a 5-1 lead. Arizona's Daulton Varsho hit a game-tying homer with two outs in the ninth, a high flyball to right field off closer Edwin Díaz (1-0) that just cleared the wall.
New York shook it off and prevailed. The Mets, who lead the NL East, have won five of their last six games.
"That's the definition of our team," Mets catcher James McCann said. "No matter where you turn, it's next man up. If this guy doesn't get you today, it'll be somebody else. That's what we pride ourselves on."
Marte's game-winning hit against Mark Melancon (0-2) was a bouncing ball to Arizona third baseman Matt Davidson, who fired to first for what looked like the third out on an extremely close play. But video review showed the speedy Marte touched the bag a split-second ahead of Davidson's throw.
Seth Lugo worked around a two-out walk for his first save.
McCann hit a two-run homer — the longest of his career at 452 feet — in the seventh that made it 5-1.
The D-backs rallied, adding a run in the seventh before a two-run homer by Christian Walker off reliever Trevor May cut New York's lead to 5-4.
"We had some situations where we were good, but could have been better," D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. "We fought all the way through, but we didn't execute in a couple key situations."
Pete Alonso drove in two runs for New York without hitting a ball hard. His single in the fourth was a shallow flyball that fell between three Arizona defensive players and scored Brandon Nimmo. He later hit a routine grounder to first that brought home Marte.
New York's David Peterson threw 5 2/3 stellar innings, giving up one run on three hits, walking one and striking out three. He's one of several pitchers who have dominated Arizona's lineup so far this season. The D-backs came into the game hitting an MLB-worst .176.
Arizona starter Zac Gallen gave up one run over five innings and struck out seven.
BUCK'S BACK
Showalter led the expansion Diamondbacks during the franchise's first three years from 1998-2000.
The 65-year-old said the franchise has evolved in ways he didn't expect, but he's proud of one prediction that came true.
"They've got turf now," Showalter said. "I told them they were going to end up there a long time ago."
The D-backs tried to grow grass at Chase Field for years until 2019 when they finally switched to turf. Before the switch, there was often patches of brown grass during the summer because of the stadium's retractable roof and the harsh desert climate.
OOPS
The D-backs had an embarrassing baserunning moment in the fifth.
Varsho lifted a line-out fly ball to left-center that was tracked down by Mark Canha, but Arizona's Pavin Smith, who had reached on a walk, apparently through there were two outs and was nearly at third by the time it was caught.
That allowed the Mets to double off Smith at first and end the inning.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Mets: RHP Taijuan Walker (right shoulder bursitis) joined the team on Friday and threw a side session.
Diamondbacks: Activated SS Nick Ahmed (right shoulder soreness) off the 10-day injured list and sent IF Yonny Hernandez to Triple-A Reno. Manager Torey Lovullo said OF Jordan Luplow (strained right oblique) could return to the active roster next week and that IF Josh Rojas (strained right oblique) will be taking live at-bats soon.
UP NEXT
RHP Humberto Castellanos (0-0, 2.57 ERA) starts for Arizona on Saturday night. New York hasn't settled on a starter, but RHP Trevor Williams (0-1, 0.00) is a possibility.
