A bloop here, a blast there and Buck Showalter got to celebrate his birthday with a bash Monday.
How about a piñata, cake and smack down of the Giants? It was all there for the Mets manager. Maybe the only thing missing was a juggling clown on a fire truck.
A surprise pregame gathering celebrated Showalter’s 66th birthday. The manager was blindfolded and led to the indoor batting cage where a piñata awaited for Showalter to swipe at with a bat as players cheered for him. Showalter also received a cake.But Showalter’s best gift might have been a wacky five-run third inning in which the Mets built a 5-2 lead for Peterson. The rally took shape with two outs, after Brandon Nimmo legged out an infield single to extend the inning.
Slumping J.D. Davis singled to start the rally. Davis returned in the sixth to smack an RBI double that extended the Mets’ lead to 6-2. In the ninth inning, the Mets battered the flutter-balling outfielder Gonzalez for three additional runs. Included was Davis’ fourth hit of the game.Peterson surrendered a two-run homer to Brandon Crawford in the second that accounted for the game’s first scoring. Evan Longoria doubled and with one out Crawford smashed a 95-mph fastball over the centerfield fence.