(Story by Marco Stoovelaar; Photos by Henk Seppen)
 Mets avoid sweep by winning big in Game 3 of World Series
Nederlands
 QUEENS, New York City, New York (USA) -
The New York Mets cut the 2-0 lead of the Kansas City Royals in half on Friday-evening (October 30) by winning Game Three of the World Series with a convincing 9-3 score.
The Mets trailed twice in the beginning of the game, but then took the lead for good in the bottom of the third.
A 4-run rally in the sixth inning expanded the Mets-lead en route to a big victory.
Tonight was the first-ever World Series-game in Citi Field, which opened in 2009.
Game Four will be played on Saturday in New York.
On Tuesday, the Royals opened the World Series with a 5-4 win in a 14-inning thriller that lasted more than five hours.
On Wednesday, the Royals took a 2-0 lead by winning 7-1.
Recap Game One
Recap Game Two
The starting pitchers tonight were righthander Noah Syndergaard for the Mets and righthander Yordano Ventura for the Royals.
For both, it was the first time they faced the Royals and Mets respectively.
Noah Syndergaard was 9-7 this season with a 2.77 ERA.
He was the starting and losing pitcher in Game 2 of the NLDS vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers, then pitched in relief in Game 5 of that series.
Next, he was the starting and winning pitcher in Game 2 of the NLCS against the Chicago Cubs.
In his three postseason-appearances before today, Syndergaard struckout 20 batters, which is a club-record for rookies in a postseason.
Yordano Ventura was 13-8 this season with a 5.09 ERA.
In this postseason, Ventura was the starter and loser in Game 1 of the ALDS vs. Houston Astros.
He then had a no-decision each of his next three starts, Game 4 of the ALDS, then Game 2 and Game 6 of the ALCS vs. Toronto Blue Jays.
...Mike Piazza is interviewed by De Telegraaf-reporter and...
...Grand Slam-webmaster Marco Stoovelaar after Italy...
...won the European Championship-title in 2012...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
Before the start of the game, the ceremonial first pitch was thrown by 12-time (six while being with the Mets) All Star catcher Mike Piazza, who played in eight seasons for the Mets (1998-2005) during his 16-year Major League-career.
With 427, Piazza is the Major League recordholder for most homeruns hit by a catcher.
Piazza, one of the best defensive catchers, played for the National Team of Italy on the inaugural edition of the World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Hereafter, he stayed with Team Italy as its Hitting Coach, including the next two World Baseball Classics in 2009 and 2013, the World Championship in 2011 and the European Championships in 2010 and 2012.
Noah Syndergaard started strong for the Mets by striking out hot-hitting lead-off hitter Alcides Escobar, but then gave up the first run.
The righthander then gave up a double to Ben Zobrist, who advanced to third base when Lorenzo Cain reached on an infield-hit.
Moments later, Zobrist scored on a force play-grounder by Eric Hosmer.
This was Hosmer's 16th RBI this postseason, extending his own club-record.
Before today, Hosmer had 27 RBI's in 28 career postseason-games.
The only player in history to have more RBI's in his first 28 career postseason-games was legendary Lou Gehrig, who had 33.
The lead was shortlived, as the Mets answered with two runs in the bottom of the first inning off of Yordano Ventura.
Curtis Granderson led off with an infield-hit, then veteran David Wright followed with a homerun to give the Mets a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the second inning, Salvador Pérez and Alex Gordon led off with singles.
Next, Álex Ríos also singled.
This brought home Pérez to score the tying run, while Gordon moved towards third base and Ríos advanced on the throw to third.
Gordon initially was ruled safe, but that was overturned after a challenge.
Ríos moved to third base on a sacrifice bunt by Yordano Ventura, then scored the go-ahead run on a passed ball.
Alcides Escobar followed with another single, then stole second base, but stranded there.
However, the Royals were leading 3-2.
In the bottom of the third, it were the Mets that took the lead again.
Pitcher Noah Syndergaard led off with a line drive single, then Curtis Granderson followed with a homerun, that gave the Mets a 4-3 lead.
...Curtis Granderson...
...3 runs, 2 hits, HR, 2 RBI's...
(© Photo: Henk Seppen) |
In the bottom of the fourth inning, the Mets added a run.
Lucas Duda led off with a single, then Travis d'Arnaud doubled.
Next, Michael Conforto also singled to bring in Duda and make it 5-3.
After next batter Wilmer Flores popped out, Danny Duffy was brought as reliever for Ventura.
Duffy retired the next two batters.
In the fifth inning, Syndergaard retired the side, starting with two strikeouts and ending with a great catch by rightfielder Curtis Granderson.
The first of those strikeouts was for Raul Mondesi, who began the inning as pinch-hitter for pitcher Danny Duffy.
And with that, Mondesi wrote history.
The Royals added the 20-year old infielder to its World Series-roster after the NLCS.
He took the spot of outfielder Terrance Gore, who was used as a pinch-runner in the previous two series.
Mondesi made history, as he has no Major League-experience!
With that, he became the first-ever player to make his Major League-debut during the World Series!
Mondesi is one of the top-prospects of the Royals and played in Double-A this season, hitting .243.
He also played in this years Futures Game.
Mondesi played his last game on September 18 in the Championship Series of the Texas League, but has been in Instructional League since then.
The infielder is the son of former Major Leaguer Raul Mondesi.
After completion of the fifth inning, there was an impressive special Stand Up To Cancer in-game moment with players, coaches, umpires, media and fans, holding up placards with the names of loved ones affected by cancer.
MasterCard presented a $4.5 million donation to SU2C.
In the top of the sixth inning, Syndergaard got the bases loaded.
After striking out the first two batters, he gave up a single to Mike Moustakas, then walked Salvador Pérez and Alex Gordon that loaded the bases.
The inning then ended with a grounder, leaving the three runners behind.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Mets were productive with a 4-run raly that begun off or reliever Franklin Morales.
With one out, pinch-hitter Juan Lagares singled, then Wilmer Flores was hit by a pitch.
Next, 36-year veteran Juan Uribe entered the game as pinch-hitter for Syndergaard and delivered a runscoring single that brought in Lagares.
In 2010, Uribe won the World Series with the San Francisco Giants.
Uribe didn't play during the NLDS and NLCS, but was added again to the roster for the World Series.
Hereafter, the bases got loaded when Morales made a throwing error on a comeback-grouder by Curtis Granderson.
Uribe probably would have been safe anyway at second base, as Morales first hesistated whether to throw the ball to what base.
With the bases loaded, Kelvin Herrera replaced Morales, but was greeted with a 2-run single by team-captain David Wright that lifted the lead to 8-3.
Daniel Murphy followed with a walk, then another run was added on a sacrifice fly by Yoenis Cespedes.
The relievers for both teams didn't gave up more runs and so, the Mets won to cut the Royals-lead in half and force a fifth game.
(October 30)
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