MLB Rankings: Greatest Hits in Week-14
1. Jeff McNeil, New York Mets, 52 percent
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With only three victories in the first nine games against the Atlanta Braves, the Mets had been having a difficult time with the division leaders. That record included losses in the first two games of the teams’ three-game weekend series at Citi Field.
To make matters worse, New York trailed 5-3 entering the bottom of the eighth inning of Sunday’s series wrapup, leaving them in imminent danger of falling 13 games behind the Braves.
Sean Newcomb drew the assignment of navigating Atlanta through the eighth, but he wasn’t up to it. The first Mets hitter, Todd Frazier, homered. Newcomb hit Robinson Cano and yielded an infield hit to Amed Rosario before recording the first out on Thomas Nido’s failed sacrifice bunt.
With the lead runs on base, Newcomb gave way to A.J. Minter, who walked Michael Conforto to load the bases. Even so, the Braves retained a 64 percent chance of winning the game until McNeil swung those odds with a bloop hit to right field that scored both Rosario and pinch runner Adeiny Hechavarria.
The next hitter, Pete Alonso, doubled driving home two insurance runs and the Mets bullpen, to the surprise of some at Citi Field, held that 8-5 lead in the ninth.