The Mets could not afford to leave Los Angeles without a win. It’s a good thing they got their baseball magician back on Sunday.
In their series finale against the Dodgers, the Mets struck first and struck hard, courtesy of aggressive baserunning and big hits from Javier Baez. And it netted a 7-2 win over their National League rival.
Baez got the Mets on the board in his first game back from the injured list with back spasms. The magical infielder hit an RBI double in his first at-bat back, that flew just over the head of Dodgers left fielder AJ Pollack, in the first inning. The shot bounced off the warning track and into the back wall before Pollack managed to make a play on it. Meanwhile, Brandon Nimmo was charging for the plate and he managed to slide in just a second before catcher Will Smith pivoted to make the tag.
In his next at-bat, Baez was determined not to be just another Met left on base. He sprinted home on a single hit by J.D. Davis, thoroughly challenging Dodgers right fielder Chris Taylor, and pulled off another stunner by sliding around Smith to score. Davis scored the next play on a single by Jonathan Villar.
The Dodgers wouldn’t see the last of Baez flying around their field.
In the top of the seventh, he dared to stretch what would be a single for the average MLB player. After hitting another line drive over to Pollack in left and rounding first base, he decided just to keep going. He got to second by pulling off another one of his mind-blowing head-first slides. His body swept through the dirt so smoothly to avoid the tag by second baseman Trea Turner, that when he eventually stopped with his right hand gripping the base, anyone watching the broadcast already knew he was safe.
“From the first inning, seeing that hard hit in the first inning,” Luis Rojas said of Baez’s impact, “we’ve had a couple of guys have done it but just to see a new face in the lineup that hasn’t been there for 10 days or so and wacks that ball, hits that double, I think immediately that’s something that the team can feed off of. And his energy on the field, I mean you saw that slide at second base, two doubles, just hustle baseball, that’s some of the good things that, you know, I think you can transmit to the other players.”
He eventually made it back home that inning after Davis mashed a home run over the left field wall. Davis was responsible for driving in four runs on Sunday. He was also walked by reliever Shane Greene, which forced in another run. And Baez struck out exactly one time in his four at-bats.
“My best, to be honest,” Baez said of the boost he gave to the Mets. “I’ve been trying to be out there. Just trying to help the team. Finally, I went out there and we got a win.”
