NEW YORK _ It happened. It finally happened.
No, the Mets didn't finally manage to get Jacob deGrom a well-earned victory. But they did win a game at home Friday night for only the third time in 18 tries. Hey, you can't have 'em all.
Jose Bautista hit a walk-off grand slam as the Mets capped a frustrating night with some full-on euphoria to beat the Rays, 5-1, at Citi Field.
It was the first career walk-off homer for Bautista, according to SNY.
Todd Frazier walked to lead off the ninth off reliever Chaz Roe, Devin Mesoraco singled and Amed Rosario sacrificed them both to second and third. Brandon Nimmo was intentionally walked with two outs to load the bases.
Before that, it appeared more of the same, and the same hasn't been all that great. DeGrom was again brilliant through eight innings, allowing one earned run on four hits over 105 pitches, with a walk, eight strikeouts and one hit batsman _ the latest in a long string of brilliant performances that have nonetheless have gone for naught. His ERA dropped to 1.79, best among starting pitchers in the majors. He remains at 5-4, and the Mets have lost seven of his nine no-decisions.
The Rays used five pitchers to get through those same eight innings, and held the Mets to four hits in the process.
DeGrom's only mistake came when nursing a one-run lead in the fifth. He served up a letter-high fastball to Willy Adames _ whose error had led to a Mets run the inning prior. Adames blasted the ball to center to tie it at 1.
After that one miscue, deGrom continued to cruise, and the Mets continued to do what they've done _ that is, not support him all that much. With Wilmer Flores at first with one out in the sixth, Frazier hit a long double to left and Flores attempted to score as third-base coach Glenn Sherlock windmilled his arms from his box in foul territory. Flores, though, was out by a few steps _ cut off at home after center fielder Kevin Kiermaier hit his cutoff man, Daniel Robertson, who was able to nail Flores without him even attempting a slide. That was the last time the Mets would seriously threaten with deGrom on the hill.
