NEW YORK — Luis Guillorme, who was cornered by Mets manager Buck Showalter, failed. His first attempt ended in a foul. His second punch almost hit his shoe cleat, causing Guillorme to throw his racquet on the floor in frustration. Guillorme is a good bunter. He’s always been a good boy. In that season of mounting frustration, it hurt that he failed to get the winning run on second base.
However, as Guillorme smirked afterwards, what happened next was “a little bit better”. Instead of attempting to land two shots, Guillorme converted a pitch from Nick Robertson and smashed it down the right field line, past Freddie Freeman for a walk-off, RBI double in the 10th inning of a 2-1 win over the dodgers .
“That’s why Buck’s our manager,” said Mets seamer David Robertson, grinning. “It was the perfect call. Worked out exactly how he wanted it.”
Sure, why not? In what looks increasingly like a losing season for the Mets, the team will capitalize on any positive quirk it can find. For much of Sunday afternoon at Citi Field, the Mets looked lifeless, waiting out a nearly four-hour rain delay just to deliver the same old baseball variety. Max Scherzer played his part, keeping the Dodgers on a hit in seven shutout innings. But Showalter’s decision to field Trevor Gott in place of Robertson in the eighth inning caused the run to end in a tie.
At this point, the intensity of the night increased. The Mets desperately needed a win. After losing four straight games, the team was in danger of suffering a double-digit deficit in the National League wildcard race, which is its only realistic means of returning to the playoffs. The idea of a big hit was tempting, but by who? Brandon Nimmo had hit both Mets runs in the first 27 innings of the series. Mediocre hitters Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso combined to 1:32.
That’s where Guillorme comes in – a hard-hitting, rarely used infielder who spent much of early summer in the Triple-A. After Robertson stranded his automatic runner at third base in the top of the 10th and “narrowly got away,” Showalter asked Guillorme to move the Mets’ automatic runner 90 feet forward. Even with the score down 0-2, Showalter gave Guillorme an opportunity to score again if he wanted to.
“Luis is perceptive,” Showalter said. “You have to trust their feelings.”
In the batter’s box, Guillorme didn’t like that idea. He feared being blocked in infield for the second straight game. He also saw Freeman slowly pushing forward on first base, considering the possibility that Guillorme might attempt a two-strike bunt. That gave Guillorme just enough room to land his walk-off double — the Mets’ first pinch-hit RBI since Patrick Mazeika delivered two in a week in 2021 — on the right field line.
“It’s great to rehab a bit and get that for the team,” Guillorme said, adding, “It’s always great to get at least one.” [win].”
With that in mind, Sunday’s walk-off win wasn’t a panacea for a Mets team lagging far behind the pace of other NL contenders. But at least it was a start. The Mets can’t make up nine games overall without catching up first, and a win over the Dodgers would have made the idea of an implausible playoff run all but impossible.
“I hope it’s a starting point,” was Showalter’s assessment, knowing full well that this optimism hasn’t yielded much in the past. Earlier walkoffs, late drama, and good pitching performances have never resulted in sustained Mets competency. But that doesn’t mean Guillorme’s hit will suffer the same fate.
Last but not least, the utility’s walk-off double tempered the ugliness of two nights, complete with taunts and boos. One of Showalter’s favorite sayings comes from David Cone, who played for him for half a season with the Yankees. As Showalter retells, Cone’s recipe for combating negative fan reaction was to give fans a reason to cheer him on. To win, plain and simple.
“Yeah, we just have to win ball games,” Scherzer agreed. “You try to take a look at the table and it looks insurmountable. But just do it one game at a time. Just come here every day and win. Just play team baseball and hopefully it snowballs and we find a hot spot.”