This Date in Mets History: Wright Powers Mets in World Series Game 3

Ten years ago, today, Citi Field hosted its first-ever World Series game. The Mets had dropped the first two games of the series to the Royals, but that couldn’t dampen the vibes in Flushing that evening.

“Playing in the World Series, in New York, for that organization, in front of those fans. ‘A dream come true’ gets thrown around pretty often, but it really was,” David Wright told MMO’s Mathew Brownstein.

There were fireworks before the Mets even stepped to the plate – Noah Syndergaard fired the game’s first pitch near the head of Royals lead-off hitter Alcides Escobar. After Escobar struck out, the Royals quieted the crowd with a pair of hits from Ben Zobrist and Lorenzo Cain, and an RBI ground-out by Eric Hosmer to take an early lead. In the bottom of the inning, though, Curtis Granderson led off with a single, and Wright sent the Flushing faithful into a frenzy when he crushed a fastball from Yordano Ventura deep into the stands in center field for a two-run homer.

“It was one of the few times where I was rounding the bases and looking up at the stands allowed me to kind of soak it in and enjoy the moment because of, selfishly and personally, all the hard work that I had put in to get back on the field,” Wright said to Brownstein.

The Royals responded in the top of the second – scoring two runs on three straight hits and passed ball to reclaim the lead. In the bottom of the third inning, the Mets answered again – Syndergaard led off with a single, and Granderson tucked a line drive over the right field fence for a two-run homer, giving the Mets a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“It was fun to see Citi Field rocking. It was exciting that it happened my second year there,” Granderson said to Brownstein. “Although I had signed there, I knew there wasn’t a lot of anticipation for us to be as good as we were that fast.”

Back on the mound, Syndergaard retired the next eight batters he faced, and Michael Conforto tacked on a run with an RBI single. With two outs in the sixth inning, the Royals loaded the bases on a single and two walks, but Syndergaard induced a ground-out from Alex Ríos to end the threat. In the bottom half of the inning, the Mets put the game to bed with a four-run frame, featuring a pinch-hit RBI single by Juan Uribe and a two-run single from Wright, giving the captain four RBIs on the game. Tyler Clippard, Addison Reed, and Jeurys Familia combined to retire the last nine Royals in order to give the Mets a 9-3 victory. Unfortunately, this ended up being the Mets’ lone victory in the series, as they surrendered late leads in the next two games.

“Being a small part of the team going to the World Series was a lifelong goal,” Wright said to Brownstein. “I just wish we could’ve finished it off and become champions.”

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