Try it free <\/a><\/p>\nCarlos Mendoza chatted with Ronny Mauricio early Tuesday and delivered a message that might have elicited eye rolls.<\/p>\n
The Mets manager told Mauricio, just called up to replace the sidelined Juan Soto, that his playing time was going to be \u201climited.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mauricio arrived back in the majors without a true job, his infield flexibility key for a team with a banged-up Jorge Polanco and Brett Baty, but Polanco still can DH and Baty is playing through a jammed thumb.<\/p>\n
So Mauricio would be guaranteed nothing and just have to be ready \u2014 just like he was asked to be ready at the end of last season, when he started all of three games in the last six weeks of the campaign.<\/p>\n
Back then, the Mets did not want to send him back to the minor leagues and burn his final option, and thus they stored him on the major league bench for a month and a half.<\/p>\n
So Tuesday, Mauricio listened to Mendoza. If there were any hard feelings, none showed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just here to help the team out in any way possible,\u201d Mauricio said later, \u201cand I\u2019ll be ready once my name is called.\u201d<\/p>\n
As luck would have it \u2014 or as \u201cbaseball\u201d would have it, as the manager put it \u2014 Mendoza called for Mauricio for the first time all season, and the young slugger was ready.<\/p>\n
![\"Third](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4689d189571d8bfb930633005a7550fc.jpeg\"\/)
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Third baseman Ronny Mauricio hits a walkoff RBI single during the 10th inning of the Mets\u2019 4-3 win over the Diamondbacks on April 7, 2026 at Citi Field. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n
In his first at-bat of the season, Mauricio laced a pinch-hit walk-off single to lift the Mets in a back-and-forth 4-3, 10-inning victory over the Diamondbacks, prompting a celebration in shallow center field and prompting the announced crowd of 34,753 \u2014 and in reality, a much smaller number \u2014 to mercifully go home and escape the biting winds and frigid temperatures at Citi Field.<\/p>\n
The Mets (7-4), who played extra innings for a third straight home game, have won four straight since dipping under .500. Perhaps this is another sign that the 2026 Mets might have better late-game luck than the 2025 Mets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt goes to show you that we\u2019re going to need everyone in here,\u201d Mendoza said after using six pitchers and every position player apart from Luis Torrens. \u201cEveryone who walks in those doors, they\u2019re important.\u201d<\/p>\n
The many domino falls of the game led to a moment that felt \u201cincredible,\u201d Mauricio said, and also was plenty unlikely considering how many turns this one took.<\/p>\n
![\"Mets](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/510d39bedda40239bb015d067bb87385.jpeg\"\/)
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Mets starter Freddy Peralta throws a pitch during their win over the Diamondbacks. Bill Kostroun\/New York Post<\/p>\n
The Mets had seized an early two-run lead, and then watched that disappear in a top of the fifth inning that they believed to have ended. Freddy Peralta (4 \u00b2\/\u2083 innings in which he tried to weather the wind but walked three) left having not allowed a run but handed a bases-loaded, two-out jam to Huascar Brazob\u00e1n.<\/p>\n
Brazob\u00e1n appeared to strike out Adrian Del Castillo and walked off the mound, only to have the call reversed with a challenge.<\/p>\n
Del Castillo then roped a two-run single before Nolan Arenado blooped an RBI hit to put Arizona ahead.<\/p>\n
Silent from the third through seventh innings, the Mets offense finally responded in the eighth, when they broke through against former Yankee Jonathan Lo\u00e1isiga.<\/p>\n
The largest moment was a pinch-hit call from Mendoza: With runners on the corners, he lifted a hot (but righty-hitting) Mark Vientos for lefty Jared Young, who rewarded the faith by lifting a game-tying sacrifice fly.<\/p>\n
The Mets bullpen \u2014 Luis Garcia, Brooks Raley, Devin Williams and Luke Weaver combined for five scoreless innings following Brazob\u00e1n \u2014 came through, most impressively in the ninth and 10th innings.<\/p>\n
![\"Devin](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1aabd715c517dfea950535ae7c740b1b.jpeg\"\/)
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Devin Williams celebrates after striking out Adrian del Castillo during the ninth inning of the Mets\u2019 10-inning win over the Diamondbacks. AP<\/p>\n
Williams escaped a two-on jam with a strikeout of Del Castillo before Weaver stranded the automatic runner and hopped off the mound with a fist raised upon striking out Tim Tawa to set the table for the bottom of the 10th.<\/p>\n
Against righty Paul Sewald, Bo Bichette grounded out, which would have brought up Polanco \u2014 but he had been subbed out for righty Tyrone Taylor as a pinch runner in the eighth.<\/p>\n
And thus the switch-hitting Mauricio was the lone lefty bat on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was ready to go, and I\u2019m proud of him,\u201d Mendoza said of Mauricio, who chased two high fastballs before roping a hit to right over the head of Corbin Carroll.<\/p>\n
\u201cMentally, I prepare myself,\u201d Mauricio said through interpreter Alan Suriel, \u201cso whenever I\u2019m called upon, I\u2019m going to do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An image collage containing 3 images, Image 1 shows New York Mets third baseman Ronny Mauricio celebrating after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2404],"tags":[6090,25638,146,22,4314,5,88,358,26,1443,1538,39842,83,38,753,15622,2278,120,134,5214,107,228,4,1028,372,4804,812,4622,1444],"class_list":{"0":"post-669675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-10th-inning","9":"tag-adrian-del-castillo","10":"tag-arizona","11":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","12":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","13":"tag-baseball","14":"tag-bo-bichette","15":"tag-brett-baty","16":"tag-brooks-raley","17":"tag-carlos-mendoza","18":"tag-corbin-carroll","19":"tag-del-castillo","20":"tag-devin-williams","21":"tag-diamondbacks","22":"tag-freddy-peralta","23":"tag-jared-young","24":"tag-jonathan-loaisiga","25":"tag-jorge-polanco","26":"tag-juan-soto","27":"tag-luis-torrens","28":"tag-luke-weaver","29":"tag-mark-vientos","30":"tag-mlb","31":"tag-nolan-arenado","32":"tag-paul-sewald","33":"tag-ronny-mauricio","34":"tag-the-mets","35":"tag-tim-tawa","36":"tag-tyrone-taylor"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116367459844961978","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/8e9885b7531b73084b4f7c17ed5f84ac.jpeg\"\/)
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