Walk Off Walk

Friday night at Citi Field, I saw a pair of teams hunting a wild card, but plagued by leaky bullpens. After the Phillies tied the Mets in the top of the 9th on J.T. Realmuto's two-run homer off Edwin Diaz (for his 7th blown save of the season), it was the Phils turn to phold. It didn't look that way at first; reliever Mike Morin retired the first two batters he faced, before giving up singles to Juan Lagares and J.D. Davis. That led to Gabe Kapler summoning Nick Vincent. Let's just say that move didn't work well. Vincent hit Jeff McNeil to load the bases, and then walked Pete Alonso on a full count.
The result: a walk-off walk and a 5-4 win. To the delight of the smallish crowd on a chilly and damp night, the Polar Bear went shirtless for the post-game celebration. After bullpen meltdowns led to agonizing losses Sunday and Wednesday, the Mets turned things around against a fellow contender.
And the irony, Diaz, after struggling again, came away credited for the win.
Moments earlier, you probably couldn't have seen this coming...
 When, with this swing, Realmuto planted a Diaz pitch in the left field seats.

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