SAN FRANCISCO — Steve Cohen’s shot at his underachieving Mets lineup must have been on a time delay that didn’t reach his players until the later innings Wednesday.
Hours after the team owner wondered on Twitter about his “unproductive” hitters, the Mets took a collective belly flop off the Bay Bridge for most of the afternoon before showing late life to beat the Giants 6-2 in 12 innings at Oracle Park.
Kevin Pillar smashed a three-run homer in the 12th against Tyler Chatwood, the Giants’ ninth pitcher of the day, helping the Mets snap a five-game losing streak and move to .500 as they head to Los Angeles, where they will face the likes of Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer and David Price before departing the West Coast.
“We haven’t been playing our best baseball, we were in much need of a win,” Pillar said. “I think we’ve got a little bit of momentum. I think we got the monkey off our back a little bit. Things just haven’t been going well.”
Before the game, a clearly frustrated Cohen tweeted: “It’s hard to understand how professional hitters can be this unproductive. The best teams have a more disciplined approach. The slugging and OPS numbers don’t lie.”
Cohen’s words, according to Pillar, were a “topic of conversation” among the players.
“He’s a new owner in baseball, he’s a passionate guy and he cares very much about us individually,” Pillar said. “He cares about this team and he wants to see us be successful. … He expects more out of us. I think we all expect more out of each other.”
Pillar’s blast preceded Chance Sisco’s RBI double that gave the Mets their final run. Michael Conforto stroked an RBI double in the 11th to bring in the go-ahead run after Edwin Diaz fired two scoreless innings in relief. But Jeurys Familia couldn’t hold the lead, surrendering an RBI single to Tommy La Stella that tied it 2-2.
Jake McGee drilled Pete Alonso leading off the ninth and Conforto’s ensuing single put runners on the corners before J.D. Davis hit a sacrifice fly to right field that tied it 1-1. But the Mets’ rally died with help from Brandon Crawford’s brilliant glove work. The Giants shortstop made a diving stop on Dominic Smith’s grounder near second base and flipped the ball with his glove to La Stella covering the bag for the second out. McGee then struck out Jonathan Villar.
“I’m not saying this is an immediate response because of [Cohen’s] message,” manager Luis Rojas said. “But we’re working just to get things right. We started swinging the bats better, like in the ninth inning. That is when we showed up offensively and then we kept it going in extra innings. We understand the message.”
Tylor Megill gave the Mets six superb innings in which he allowed one earned run on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. It marked the third time this season the rookie pitched at least six innings and surrendered one run or less. Megill, who threw 90 pitches, saw his ERA drop to 3.21.
The Mets didn’t get their second hit of the game until the sixth, when Brandon Nimmo singled leading off. To that point, Alonso’s single through the second-base hole in the first had accounted for the Mets’ only hit.
Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani departed in the second inning with right ankle discomfort, but the San Francisco bullpen held it together until the 12th.
LaMonte Wade Jr. stroked an RBI double in the third to give the Giants a 1-0 lead. Alex Dickerson and Wilmer Flores singled in succession to begin the rally before Wade slashed a shot just inside the foul line in the left-field corner to bring in the run. But with runners on second and third, Megill avoided further trouble by retiring La Stella before Kris Bryant struck out.
“I want to attribute the win to our pitchers,” Rojas said. “They gave us a chance, kept us in the game. The guys showed up, scored a few runs, [Pillar] showed up with a three-run homer there. We’re working hard. We want to keep this offense going now.”
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