Curtis Granderson and David Wright each hit two-run homers and the New York Mets bounced back from two losses to rout Kansas City 9-3 in game three of the World Series.
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After the Mets fell behind in the first inning, Granderson started the bottom half with a single and Wright hit his first World Series home run, recharging a packed crowd of 44,781 that included Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock and Dennis Miller.
In the October chill inside the Mets dugout, soon to be warmed by a long-suffering fan base that turned its home on this night into ElectriCiti Field, 1986 World Series champion Tim Teufel still believed. He grew up as a Mets fan, and seemed to enjoy recalling his favorite memories of following the team in his childhood.
That score would only hold up until the third inning. First pitch is scheduled for 7:07pm.
Until Friday night – until the Mets’ bats reanimated and Syndergaard threw triple-digit petrol, until the Royals’ starter wilted on the mound and their gloves followed suit in the field and especially until the pitch that sizzled to the netting behind home plate – the World Series looked like a one-sided affair.
Mondesi had kept sharp playing with minor leaguers and was added to Kansas City’s roster for the World Series.
“You could tell he was starting to get a little flustered”, Royals manager Ned Yost said about Ventura.
“When you get down 3-0, it’s really hard”, said Mets manager Terry Collins. The Mets slugged. 203 in the first two games of the series.
Upon arrival at the park Friday, Syndergaard conferred with Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud and mapped out the game-opening sequence.
Syndergaard went on to strike out Escobar with a 99-mph blazer, the first swing and miss at a fastball since Game One by Kansas City, who were the best team in Major League Baseball at hitting high-velocity fastballs.
Kansas City are 13-3 in their last 16 games on grass and the over is 8-2-1 in their last 11 Saturday games while the Royals are 8-2 in their last 10 overall. “I just had to get the barrel of the bat to it; he supplied the power”. “I think we’re gonna see a different team here tonight”.
Fun fact: Despite all the talk of the stadium being pitcher friendly, San Diego’s Jody Gerut homered as the first official batter at the ballpark. If you want to throw me inside, you can throw me down. He simply made a bad throw during what, for the Royals, was a bad inning. “It’s been pretty awesome that I’ve been able to do that”. “So to get this one definitely is good for us”.
While Syndergaard struck out Escobar, Zobrist doubled on a hop off the center-field wall and scored after an infield hit and Eric Hosmer’s sacrifice fly.
With long, golden locks flowing out from beneath his baseball cap, 11 letters to that unusual last name arched around his shoulders on the back of a Mets jersey, Syndergaard resembles a few sort of Viking pitcher sent from the ancient past.
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It’s striking that Young, every bit the Princeton-educated tinkerer, found a season in which he threw 165 innings and won the American League Comeback Player of the Year as a template to scrap, even after failing to reach that season over the past six years, or even in the past four seasons combined.
