Mets overcome themselves to get desperately needed victory

Welcome to The Walk Off, the nightly MLB recap from Big League Stew. Here we’ll look at the top performers of the night, show you a must-see highlight and rundown the scoreboard. First, we start with a game you need to know about.

If you thought the sky was falling in Queens before Saturday, just imagine what another New York Mets loss to the San Diego Padres would have done to their fans.

The Mets came into the game having lost eight of 12 games in August. To make matters even more frustrating, they’ve been dealt six one-run defeats over their last 16 games. It’s been gut punch after gut punch, with each taking its toll, but a loss here with Jacob deGrom on the hill may have been the knockout punch.

That’s almost what happened.

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Despite deGrom tossing seven innings of one-run ball, the Mets found themselves walking the razor’s edge in extra innings. That’s because closer Jeurys Familia served up a two-out, game-tying home run to Wil Myers.

Given how things have gone for the Mets that probably felt like the body blow to help set up the upper cut. Fortunately, they had a little more fight in them, extending the game to 11 innings. That’s where Neil Walker set the table and then took advantage of a Padres defense lapse to score the winning run.

With runners at the corners and one out, Wilmer Flores hit a ground ball up the middle that second baseman Ryan Schimpf fielded, but rather than attempting a double play decided to come home. That proved costly, as his throw sailed wide allowing Walker to slide home with a Mets 3-2 victory.

Chances are Schimpf could have helped start an inning-ending double play, but we’ll chalk the decision and the result as a break the Mets desperately needed. With the win, they moved back to 58-58. You’re nothing if you’re not .500, so that’s a start. However, they’re still 2 1/2 games out of the wild card and stuck behind two other teams.

Will they catch enough good breaks to make up ground. Will they get to playing consistent baseball. Time will tell, but at least for one night their confidence should be building.

TOP PERFORMERS

Trea Turner, Ben Revere and Daniel Murphy: The top three hitters in Washington’s lineup were excellent during Saturday’s 7-6 win against Atlanta. Turner, Revere and Murphy combined to go 6-for-12 with two home runs, three triples, six RBIs and six runs scored. Together, they totaled 18 bases. Turner led the way with eight bases after falling a double shy of the cycle.

Joey Votto: The Reds first baseman remained the hottest hitter in baseball, collecting a four-hit game in their 11-5 win against the Brewers. Votto doubled and singled twice, raising his batting average to .301 after it had dipped to .215 on June 1. How does this happen?

This is how.

Randal Grichuk: Happy Birthday, Randal. Celebrating his 25th birthday, the Cardinals outfielder smacked a grand slam to give St. Louis an 8-4 victory and snap the Cubs season-best winning streak at 11. St. Louis also got homers from Brandon Moss and Jedd Gyorko as they trimmed their NL Central deficit to 13 games.

Madison Bumgarner: The Baltimore Orioles are a different team on the road. Still, Madison Bumgarner hasn’t faced many offenses like them this season, but he aced the challenge in San Francisco’s 6-2 win. Bumgarner allowed just three hits and walked three over seven scoreless innings. He also struck out eight, as he picked up his 11th win.

MUST-SEE HIGHLIGHT

The Yankees new era started with a bang-bang as rookies Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge hit back-to-back home runs in their respective first career at-bats. Needless to say, that had never happened before in baseball, and chances are it never will again. New York went on to defeat the Rays 8-4.

REST OF SCOREBOARD

Blue Jays 4, Astros 2: With the Orioles falling in San Francisco, Toronto leapfrogged back into first place on Saturday. The difference here was provided by a Russell Martin three-run homer. Young closer Roberto Osuna helped make it stand up, while also nearing history.

Dodgers 8, Pirates 4: Seven different Dodgers had multi-hit games as they racked up 17 as a team. Joc Pederson hit the Dodgers lone home run.

Twins 5, Royals 3: Minnesota got home runs from Robbie Grossman, Eddie Rosario and Brian Dozier. On the hill, Tyler Duffey allowed two runs over seven innings to pick up his eighth win.

Phillies 6, Rockies 3: A Maikel Franco first-inning three-run homer proved to be the difference. Closer Jeanmar Gomez made it so after notching his 30th save.

Red Sox 6, Diamondbacks 3: Inheriting a bases loaded, nobody out situation in the eighth inning, Brad Ziegler struck out the side to help preserve the victory. Ziegler only gets a hold for his effort, but that was truly a save.

White Sox 8, Marlins 7: Frustrating loss for Miami. The game ended with Giancarlo Stanton being thrown out at second base attempting to stretch a single into a double.

Indians 5, Angels 1: Five Indians pitchers combined to allow one run on one hit. That one hit was an Andrelton Simmons infield single. Mike Clevinger pitched the first 5 2/3 to pick up his first career win.

Tigers 2, Rangers 0: Left-hander Matt Boyd outdueled Cole Hamels, allowing just two hits over seven scoreless frames. Hamels was touched up for two runs on a whopping 14 hits in seven innings.

Mariners 4, A’s 3: The Mariners aren’t going away. Home runs from Nelson Cruz and Robinson Cano led them to their seventh win in eight games. They are two games back in the wild-card standings.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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