Hitter by hitter, Washington Nationals rookie Felipe Rivero was pumping fastballs past the New York Mets hitters.
Until he got to his third inning of relief and had to deal with Wilmer Flores.
Flores took one fastball for a strike. But this one was slower than the previous 13 that Rivero threw (95.2 mph).
The next one was slower than that. It came in at 94.6 mph and went out at 105.6 mph for Flores’ first career walk-off home run. It was also his third walk-off hit of the season, tying Starlin Castro and Josh Donaldson for the major-league lead.
In his first start since nearly being traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, Flores capped a game that featured a series of remarkable one-on-one battles between pitcher and hitter.
In this one, the home run came against the second-fastest pitch that Flores has hit out of a ballpark as a major leaguer. He homered on a 94.7 mph pitch from Jose Urena of the Marlins earlier this season.
Mets bullpen comes through
The Mets bullpen, which imploded in Thursday’s crushing loss to the San Diego Padres, was impressive in back of Matt Harvey on Friday night.
Mets relievers combined for 4 1/3 hitless innings (one fewer than Harvey started the game with) and struck out seven. They were on the right end of a few borderline calls, including one that got Bryce Harper ejected for arguing (Harper had his first 0-for-5 since he had one in September 2013 against the Marlins).
The decisive at-bat was the first against the Mets bullpen, by Jayson Werth against Mets reliever Tyler Clippard, with the score tied and two men on with two outs for the Nationals in the eighth inning.
The former teammates battled, with Werth fouling off seven two-strike pitches to keep the at-bat alive.
On the 13th pitch, Clippard threw one right on the line that would mark the bottom of the strike zone. Werth thought it was low. The home plate umpire did not.
It marked the first time in Clippard’s career that he retired a batter who battled him that deep into an at-bat. Opposing hitters are 1-for-13 with four walks against Clippard when a plate appearance goes at least 10 pitches.
Retiring Werth in such a situation is a challenge. He entered the day 12-for-27 with eight walks in 10-pitch-or-longer plate appearances in the regular season.
He also hit a walk-off home run on the 13th pitch of a turn in Game 4 of the 2012 NLDS against Lance Lynn of the Cardinals.
But not Friday.
Stump your friends: Mets walk-off trivia
Let’s close with a couple of trivia nuggets with which you can challenge your friends.
First, colleague Michael Bonzagni chimes in with this one: This was the first time the Mets hit a walk-off home run against the Nationals since Oct. 1, 2010. That was hit by Josh Thole … against Clippard.
Second, it’s the first walk-off home run hit by a Mets second baseman in nearly 45 years. Their last was by Wayne Garrett against the Chicago Cubs (and Hall-of-Famer Hoyt Wilhelm) in 1970. Mets second basemen only have five walk-off home runs, the fewest of any position in the field for them, other than pitcher.
Lastly, it’s the Mets 12th walk-off home run against the Expos and Nationals. The only teams against whom they’ve hit more are the Cubs (15) and the Pirates (13).
