The clock is close to striking midnight for the New York Mets. On Saturday night, the Mets blew a 3-1 lead and fell 5-3 to the Kansas City Royals in Game 4 of the World Series, giving the Royals a 3-1 lead in the series and putting them one win away from their first World Championship in 30 years.
The game actually got off to a decent start for Kansas City when Alcides Escobar led off the game with a single. But Steven Matz struck out Ben Zobrist, and Escobar was called out trying to steal second thanks to interference being called on Zobrist. Matz then got out of the inning with no damage. Chris Young set New York down in order in the bottom of the inning.
In the second, Sal Perez singled with two outs for Kansas City, but was stranded. Young once again set the Mets down in order. Matz recorded his first perfect inning in the top of the third, and Young ended up allowing his first baserunner after Michael Conforto hit a leadoff solo homer to put the Mets on top 1-0.
Young then walked Wilmer Flores, who moved up to second on a wild pitch and to third on a bunt by Matz. Curtis Granderson then hit a sac fly to score Flores, but it wasn’t without controversy or derision – Alex Rios forgot how many outs there were after making the catch and hesitated with his throw him, and the Royals challenged whether or not Flores left third base early. They lost the challenge, and it was 2-0 Mets.
Both sides went down 1-2-3 in the fourth, and the Royals got on the board in the fifth. Perez doubled with one out off of Matz, and quickly scored on a single by Alex Gordon to make it a 2-1 game. Matz got out of the inning with no further damage, but it did get dicey after pinch hitter Kendrys Morales singled with two outs.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Mets answered the Royals’ run with another one of their own, courtesy of another Conforto homer. This time, his victim was Danny Duffy, and New York’s lead was once again two runs.
2015 World Series
Throughout the next inning and a half, each side went down in order. Then we went to the eighth, and all hell broke loose…again.
Tyler Clippard started the inning for the Mets. After getting a ground out from Escobar to start the inning, Clippard walked Zobrist and Cain and was pulled for Mets closer Jeurys Familia. The first batter Familia faced was Eric Hosmer, and he hit a bleeder to second…that Daniel Murphy flubbed. Zobrist scored, and the game was tied.
Next up was Mike Moustakas, who singled in Cain to give the Royals a 4-3 lead. Sal Perez then followed that up with a single of his own to score Hosmer and increase the lead to 5-3.
Wade Davis set the Mets down in order in the eighth, and after Hansel Robles did the same to the Royals in the ninth, the Mets were down to their last gasp. Davis struck out David Wright to start the inning, and Murphy redeemed himself to a degree, reaching on an infield single that Moustakas couldn’t corral. Yoenis Cespedes then singled to right to bring the winning run to the plate in the form of Lucas Duda. Duda hit a soft liner to Moustakas at third for the second out, and he doubled Cespedes off first to end the game.
So this is it for the Mets, huh? They emptied out their bullpen in relief of Matz on Saturday night, and everything went fine until the eighth inning. Now, New York is looking at a must-win Game 5 (and Game 6 if it gets there) and their bullpen isn’t in great shape. The team had just one at bat with runners in scoring position all evening, and that was Duda’s game-ending double play in the ninth. Conforto’s homers were the lone extra base hits for the club, while the Royals had just two (the doubles by Perez and Zobrist).
In all honesty, this hasn’t been a very well-played series, though it has been an exciting one. Both offenses have had extended runs of ineptitude, and no starting pitcher has truly dominated aside from Johnny Cueto in Game 2. Much like in Kansas City’s ALCS win over the Blue Jays, this series has been a battle of seeing which bullpen could stand up to the stress – and the Royals bullpen is passing that test through four games.
Matt Harvey gets the nod for the Mets on Sunday for Game 5, while the Royals will counter with Edinson Volquez.
