Mets Explode for Five in the Eighth, Bury Royals 6-2

A.J. Ewing opened the scoring with a 420-foot shot to center in the first inning, and the Mets never really looked back. When Kansas City's bullpen imploded in the eighth — wild pitches, a bases-clearing single, the works — New York turned a tied game into a rout.

For seven innings, this looked like a pitchers' duel that neither starter fully earned. Christian Scott gave the Mets five innings of three-hit, zero-run ball with five strikeouts, and Randy Dobnak matched him with 5.2 innings of three-hit, zero-run pitching for Kansas City. The only blemish on the early scorecard was Ewing's first-inning homer — a 420-foot shot to center — and a Salvador Perez single in the sixth that scored Caglianone to knot it at 1-1. Through seven, this game had the feel of something that would be decided by one swing. It was. It just took five of them.

The eighth inning was where Kansas City's night fell apart completely. With the score tied, a hit-by-pitch scored Lindor and loaded the bases, swinging the Mets' win probability from 66% to 91% in a single play. Brett Baty followed with a single to center that scored Benge and Taylor, pushing New York to 4-1. Then Royals reliever Cuas uncorked a wild pitch that scored Young and moved Baty to second. Francisco Alvarez then singled to left to score Baty, and just like that the Mets had put up five runs in one inning without hitting anything particularly hard. The story of the night was a Kansas City bullpen that simply couldn't find the strike zone or the plate when it mattered most.

The Royals managed a consolation run in the ninth when Carter Jensen doubled to right to score Rojas, making it 6-2, but the outcome was never in doubt by that point. Tobias Myers handled two innings of relief for New York, allowing one earned run. Worth noting: Jorge Polanco, who had missed nearly three months with injuries, was back in the Mets' lineup and factored into the eighth-inning rally — Polanco moved to second on the hit-by-pitch play that broke the game open. His return appears to give New York's lineup a different dimension. Meanwhile, Jac Caglianone — who scored Kansas City's first run on the Perez single and is headed to the Home Run Derby next week — had little else to show for his night. For the Royals, this one looks like a missed opportunity against a rotation they had neutralized for most of the game, only to hand it away in the most avoidable way possible.