Carlos Mendoza was aiming for that.
He was using bullets.
The right-handed pitcher took the mound with a game-tying double.
DJ Stewart didn’t have to wait any longer.
“I told him before the game to be ready for that at-bat there. I felt like it was a good opportunity to take a chance there,” the first-year Mets manager said. He talked about his decision to use Stewart as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning of the game. “It was good to see him ready from pitch one. That was just the game for me there.”
done.
Stewart tied the game on a double by reliever Hunter Stratton, and two innings later he drew a crucial walk against former Yankee Aroldis Chapman.
Two at-bats were key as the Mets rallied to beat the Pirates 6-3, winning for the eighth time in 11 games to get back to .500 after an 0-5 start.
It was another productive game for Stewart, the team’s part-time designated hitter, who bounced back well from a rough start.
At the beginning of this year, he was hitless in 12 at-bats with six strikeouts, but he has hit safely in four of his last five games.
He has only five hits this season, but the team has scored seven points.
“I think I was able to relax a little bit. [Mendoza] I ask you to smile at me every day,” Stewart said. “I think he saw that I was a little stressed out. But at the beginning of the season, everything went wrong, but I’m relaxed, I’m doing a good job, I’m talking to my teammates.”
Perhaps his most memorable at-bat was the eighth-inning walk that led to Harrison Bader’s game-winning two-run double.
Chapman, who pitches hard, is famous for being tough against left-handed batters.
However, Stewart was able to issue a walk.
“In fact, I’ve played against him many times in my career in Baltimore. He hasn’t had a lot of success. I don’t think many people would, but that’s why he played against him so many times throughout his career. That’s why we’ve been so successful,” Stewart said. He didn’t really give me what I was looking for for a hit. I was lucky to be able to draw a walk there. ”
