Zach Neto drove in a career-high four runs, including three with a go-ahead home run in the seventh inning, leading the Los Angeles Angels to a 5-4 win over the New York Mets on Saturday night. This victory came despite J.D. Martinez hitting his second grand slam in just eight games.
Neto hit a cutter from Huascar Brazobán (1-3) into the Mets’ bullpen in left field, putting the Angels back in the lead.
Michael Stefanic began the rally with a two-out base hit, and Nolan Schanuel walked to set up Neto’s team-leading 17th home run of the season. Neto hit the home run on the eighth pitch of his at-bat, after having fouled off three straight pitches.
Neto said, “To finally be able to get a good pitch and drive it and be a big-time hero for us, it was big time.” He also had an RBI single in the fifth inning, helping the Angels end a three-game losing streak.
Matt Moore (5-2) earned the win, and Ben Joyce retired all four batters he faced in 1 1/3 innings to get his first big league save. Joyce struck out Martinez for the final out with a 104.7-mile-per-hour fastball, the fastest pitch in the majors this season.
According to Sportradar, this pitch is tied for the sixth-fastest since 2009.
Joyce has now gone 23 innings without allowing a run and has not given up a run in 18 straight games since June 14.
Joyce said, “It was a different level there. It was an 0-2 pitch. Just try to let it eat and ended up getting a good result.”
Martinez joked, “I’m going to be all over Instagram striking out” when he found out it was the fastest pitch this season.
The Angels were leading 2-0 going into the seventh inning after starter José Soriano threw six shutout innings and Kevin Pillar made two great defensive plays. However, the Mets loaded the bases with one out, and Martinez hit a low and inside sinker from Hunter Strickland over the wall in center field.
This grand slam was Martinez’s 10th career grand slam; he also hit one on July 26 against Atlanta.
