Andy Green, Francisco Lindor, Carson Benge and others talk walk-off win over Washington
Interim Mets manager Andy Green praised his team's resilience after their 5-4 comeback win in the bottom of the ninth inning. Francisco Lindor, who drove in the game-winner, feels the good locker room vibes are helping the veterans and the kids. Key contributions from Carson Benge and reliever Jefry Yan helped keep the Mets within striking distance, with Benge nailing a Washington player attempting to score to keep the deficit to one.
Video Transcript
Andy, first and foremost, over these last 11 games now, you guys have been finding a lot of different ways to win.
I- is there a through line for you that has been a, a really positive sign that has led to this type of success that you guys are on the last couple of weeks?
For me, it's just resilient.
Like, you don't play perfect baseball when you go on winning streaks.
You, you make mistakes.
You, you make errors, you make base running mistakes, you don't execute every pitch.
But you don't let that moment impact the next moment, and I think our guys have done tremendous at that.
Like, Lindor literally came up to me and, like, owned a base running mistake, but he didn't let it impact the game on the line at bat.
That, that's championship caliber player.
That's what you want out of your whole team, and I think we've seen that time and time again.
Like, the teams that go on the long streaks, it's not perfect.
It's just resilience, and so you're always bouncing back from mistakes, and you're always believing you can come back and win baseball games.
Exciting for, for, like, what happened at the end of the game.
But we had two guys in the bottom of our order who'd had a tough day, at the plate.
Alvarez had, Polanco had.
They both got huge hits off a really good pitcher to set that whole thing up, too.
And so, it's harder than most people give it credit for to take an oh for three or oh for four into a ninth inning at bat against a closer down one and come through for their team.
Both those guys did that for us today, and then Lindor as well.
Like, love those types of wins.
Started with Beatty.
The way he worked the count, like, he wasn't too desperate.
He just wanted to get a good pitch, and he didn't get it.
He- So he ended up walking, and then the hitting coach is talking to me in the dugout, telling me what to look for, prepping me, Rafa.
Then Polanco had a huge at bat.
That was a really good at bat.
He laid up some good pitches and ended up getting a good slider and driving it.
Then, now I'm getting closer to being on deck.
Albie does what he does.
Then once I'm on deck, AJ, had a really good at bat, just didn't happen for him.
So by the time I step in the box, I already knew what to do.
I mean, the, just seeing how the guys worked the count, it was just pretty much It was a much easier plan and approach once I saw everything happening the way the guys went about it.
They've won, you've won eight of your last 11.
How much has this team been on your jocks, like, since the trade deadline?
I mean, yeah, there's good vibes, good energy.
Guys feeding off each other.
Guys are jumping off the strike outs, which is, you know, it's fun for, for the guys.
You have younger players playing the game the right way, playing hard.
And then you have the other ones having quality at bats, like Bo, Marcus, JY, Polanco, and just, just feeding off each other.
Just, this is a good time right now.
We just gotta keep up the energy, keep playing for each other, and we'll see what happens.
Did that hit have kind of a redeeming quality after what happened when you were on base the time before that?
Yeah, it definitely didn't feel good.
I tried to make something happen there.
If I would've took off when the, when Gilbert told me to take off, 'cause he had the right read and he told me to go.
And if I would've done that, I would've made it safe to second, but I kind of hesitated and then I took off.
So he did the r- the right job.
I just didn't execute it.
So after that, I was just relying on the teammates.
They had good, they put quality at bats after that.
We just didn't score.
But, and then in the ninth, we, the guys did what they, what they did and, we were able to come back.
So yeah, it felt good.
Especially when it comes to the young guys and their development, how important do you think it is to just finish off the season strong?
I mean, the more games they can play, the better.
And when they're surrounded by a winning environment, and, you know, it's been a tough year for, for everybody here.
But they, they're seeing that the year is not done.
You know, we gotta play to win.
This is expectancy to come here and play as hard as you can day in and day out and try to win.
And that's what they're doing.
You know, they're trying to, they're trying to win every single day.
Even when we were losing, they would get, a little bit upset because they wanted to win, you know?
So it, it, it is very important, and not just for them, for everybody.
Carson, I know we've asked you a bunch of times already, but you are settling underneath that ball.
Just, I mean, how, how excited do you get for that opportunity to, to make a play like that defensively?
You know, I didn't think he was gonna go on that one, but I still know I gotta finish the play and gotta do it quick.
So whenever I saw him kinda running after I let go of the ball, I was kinda excited for it, 'cause I knew he would be out.
You, I mean, we're in shell enough where you're saying you didn't think that he would go, but are, how aware are you two of just how fast that runner is at third base?
I know he's probably one of the fastest in the league, so I know that there, if there's any depth to that fly ball, he's probably gonna take a chance at it and I got, get rid of it quick and throw it hard and on target.
What do you think is the key to throwing that on target that quickly?
I mean, it's one thing to have the, the arm, but the accuracy that you've had so far, what, what is the key to doing that as quickly as you do?
Probably my pitching.
My pitching probably helps me out a little bit on that, so being able to translate that to the field is pretty good.
Jeffrey, what does, getting your first Major League win mean to you?
You know, very exciting.
Very, very happy.
First and foremost, I wanna thank God, obviously, for the opportunity.
But, but yeah, no, but also I wa- I wanna thank the team as well.
Like, like I said when I got into the dugout, you know, "We're, let, let, let's battle back.
Let's, let's battle back into the game and, let, let, let's win this game.
There was no way that we're gonna lose today."
so yeah, we, we, we were all together.
We were all united today and, and yeah, it was really exciting.
Sean, how do you personally look at an afternoon like today where you were just utterly dominant for those five innings and then, you know, just had that one inning in the sixth?
Yeah, it was, a good outing.
You know, I had one, one really, like, true mistake.
You know, and Brady just, you know, made me, made me pay for that.
So I mean, overall it was, it was good and I'll take it.
You know, we ultimately got the W, so, that's all that really matters.
And, you know, definitely a lot of good things that came from it and, just something to build off of.
Yeah, pretty great reaction a few starts ago to Benjes' throw.
I know you had just come out of the game, but doing it again, just what, what was your reaction watching that?
I mean, it's amazing.
Yeah, I don't, I don't really know how to describe it.
It's just kinda automatic with it right now.
It's really cool to, to see that, the confidence he's got out there and, he's just a, been a great right fielder and, just an overall athlete.
Just, you know, hats off to him.
