In a matter of a few hours at Citi Field, Javier Baez went from a villain worthy of lusty boos to the heroic recipient of a standing ovation amid a happy celebration at home plate. In short, he went from thumbs-down to thumbs decidedly up.
Baez had a key two-out, run-scoring single in the Mets’ five-run ninth inning on Tuesday afternoon, and then scored the winning run by sliding headlong across home plate to secure the Mets a 6-5 slide-off victory over the Miami Marlins in the first game of a doubleheader. “It says a lot about the guys,” Mets outfielder Michael Conforto said of the entire rally, “especially today.