Daniel Vogelbach, new faces lift Mets over Pirates as draft jockeying begins
There might not be much for the Mets to play for, but Mets players are playing for their pride and their professions.
Led by nice nights from plenty of the offense — including Francisco Lindor and newcomer Jonathan Arauz — the Mets beat the Pirates, 7-2, in a series-opener in front of 23,151 at Citi Field on a rainy Monday.
In winning a second straight contest, the Mets (54-65) moved a game up on the idle Nationals and thus a game clear of the NL East cellar.
They also snapped a tie with the Pirates (53-66), who are tied with Washington for the sixth-worst record in baseball.
The overall standings are significant for draft reasons: A lottery consisting of all the non-playoff teams will be conducted in the offseason.
If the Mets wind up with a top-six selection, they would keep it.
If the Mets’ first pick falls outside of the top six, it would be bumped down 10 spots because of their payroll.
The Mets, who have the ninth-worst record in MLB, have reasons to lose — which do not matter to their players, most notably their star shortstop.
“I’m not going through the motions no matter what,” Lindor said after he reached in three of his four plate appearances and stole a base, becoming the first Met with 20 homers and 20 steals since Carlos Beltran in 2008. “I owe it to the fans. I owe it to my teammates. I owe it to this organization, and I owe it to myself. I will go every day and give it what I’ve got.”
The Mets’ offense scored at least one run in each of the first six innings, a steady attack effective against ineffective Pirates pitchers.
Brandon Nimmo, who like Lindor is still trying, cracked his 16th homer of the season and continues to play through a tight quad, which he said is healing better as he plays left field and has to run less.
Daniel Vogelbach, maybe fighting for a job next year, reached base in three of four plate appearances and cranked his ninth home run.
Pride matters, but so do players’ futures.
Arauz, a flexible infielder who spent most of his season at Triple-A Syracuse, punched his first home run in his eighth Mets game and his sixth in 76 career major league contests.
The 25-year-old from Panama flexed his glove at second base, too, robbing former Mets prospect Endy Rodriguez of a hit with a diving catch after sprinting to his left.
Arauz “will really jump a ball now and then,” was the scouting report manager Buck Showalter got on the switch hitter, who hit 14 homers with Syracuse.
Carlos Carrasco (two earned runs, three walks on 88 pitches) placed the Mets in an early hole that the offense and a few new arrivals took care of.
Tyson Miller, a 28-year-old righty picked up from the Dodgers, pitched two scoreless innings in his club debut.
Sam Coonrod, a hard-throwing reliever who missed 4 ¹/₂ months with a lat strain, debuted in the sixth inning and flashed good stuff.
He got into trouble through walking Alfonso Rivas and Liover Peguero reaching on a tapper, but the righty bounced back to strike out Connor Joe with a fastball and Bryan Reynolds with a changeup.
“Big night for Coonrod. That’s a long path to get back here,” Showalter said of a team that does not have a chance but still has fight.
