There were Twins littered on the bases all night, but as has been the case this series, they just couldn’t seem to find the one key hit to put up a crooked number. Until Ryan Jeffers came up with the bases juiced. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Making his first start after two years away recovering from a torn UCL, Mets SP Christian Scott had no feel for any of his pitches. Scott walked four Twins in the first frame, including Austin Martin which drove in the opening run of the game, but Minnesota couldn’t find the hit they needed to knock out New York’s starter. A walk, a balk, and a HBP to start the second inning ultimately did in Scott without allowing a hit.

Also unfortunate: Joe Ryan. The Twins’ ace did not have his best stuff tonight, repeatedly leaving pitches down the middle of the plate. Three of the first four players he faced reached base, highlighted (or lowlighted, in our case) by Brett Baty’s three-run blast to put the Mets right back on top.

Ryan did allow three more runs in the second inning, but all of those were unearned after a dropped strike three from Ryan Jeffers prolonged the inning. A solo homer from rookie outfielder Carson Benge was the final run added to Ryan’s tally, but he was clearly fighting it all night.

Despite all the aforementioned baserunners, the Twins were only able to scrape across two runs in the middle innings while rookie pitcher Andrew Morris pitched a couple scoreless frames to keep Minnesota in striking distance. And boy, did Ryan Jeffers strike it well. Bases juiced, two outs, tying run at the plate. Take it away, Cory Provus.

Game tied at 7, Morris came back out after retiring six straight Mets, but like in his previous outing, was just left out there one inning too many. New York went single, sac bunt, single, to put runners at the corners with one out. A short fly from Ronny Mauricio kept the score tied with two outs, but manager Derek Shelton turned to Anthony Banda to get the final out of the frame.

And Banda, it should be noted, is bad. He walked pinch hitter Tommy Pham, who hasn’t been a good hitter in half a decade. Then the Mets got some heroics of their own with big offseason acquisition Bo Bichette delivering a bases-clearing, three run double to suck the remaining life out of the Twins.

Down to their final strike in three separate ABs, Brooks Lee, Tristan Gray, and Byron Buxton all delivered two-out hits in the 9th to put Buxton on second as the tying run, but closer Devin Williams got Trevor Larnach swinging to secure the Mets’ second win in the past two weeks.

The bullpen is the biggest weakness on this team and it has shown for the past week, blowing late leads in four of the last five ballgames. There are potential reinforcements on the way with Kody Funderburk returning from paternity leave. Additionally, Travis Adams and David Festa are beginning rehab assignments, but neither of those pitchers is a proven relief option despite some internal optimism within the organization. If the Twins can hover around .500 until the trade deadline, there will be plenty of options to find relief help then, but we have a long way to go until July.

Joe Ryan: 5 IP, 7 H, 7 R (4 earned), 2 BB, 5 K, 2 HR

Andrew Morris in his third inning (the first 2 were very good!)

Anthony Banda: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 BB, allowed three game-winning runs to score