ANAHEIM — J.D. Martinez has faced a lot of fastballs in his career, but none as fast as the three Los Angeles Angels right-hander Ben Joyce threw him Saturday night in the top of the ninth at Angel Stadium, which clocked in at 103.7 MPH, 103.2 MPH and 104.7 MPH.
Martinez swung through the third one, which was the fastest in the majors this year and tied for the sixth-fastest in baseball since 2009, to end the game.
“I’m going to be all over Instagram striking out,” Martinez joked.
Martinez hit a grand slam to put the Mets ahead of the Halos in the top of the seventh, but the lead was brief. In the bottom of the seventh, Huascar Brazobàn, one of the Mets’ new bullpen arms acquired at Tuesday’s trade deadline, gave up a three-run homer to Zach Neto, handing the home team back the lead.
The Mets couldn’t recover against the Angels’ bullpen, and fell, 5-4, to even the series at 1-1.
“He’s gotten big outs before, and he’s got a big arm,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of Brazobán’s outing. “Obviously, we brought him in here to be in those situations.”
Brazobán (1-3) is capable of pitching multiple innings, but with the Miami Marlins he hadn’t been used in many high-leverage innings like the one he was pitching in on Saturday. With the Mets up, 4-2, after Martinez’s grand slam, Brazobán struck out Jo Adell and Matt Thaiss before giving up a single to No. 9 hitter Michael Stefanic.
Leadoff hitter Nolan Schanuel drew a seven-pitch walk. Then came Neto.
Brazobán fell behind, 3-0, before getting a called strike to move to 3-1. Neto fouled off the next pitch to work the count full and then fouled off two more before driving a cutter into the left-field stands on the eighth pitch of the at-bat.
“Neto, you’ve got to give him credit,” Mendoza said. “He kept fouling off some tough pitches and then finally got him on a cutter, 3-2.”
The Mets were trying to get him through two innings in a hold situation and he struggled with his command after about 25 pitches. He ended at 36 after giving up an infield single to Logan O’Hoppe after the home run.
It was a tough assignment, though one Brazobán felt capable of handling.
“I don’t think there was any added pressure,” the right-hander said through a team translator. “I don’t think I threw my best pitches in my repertoire that I have, but no, there wasn’t any added pressure.”
It was a tough at-bat for Brazobán, following tough at-bats by Stefanic and Schanuel. Still, the Mets were comfortable using Brazobán in that situation. Right-handers Alex Young and Ryne Stanek warmed up in the bullpen in case the Angels pinch-hit cleanup hitter Kevin Pillar.
“That was his inning,” Mendoza said. “Once he [was in there] a little longer after the two-out walk — single and then walk — I had Stanek ready there for Pillar too.”
Right-hander Hans Crouse put two on with one out in the top of the inning before handing the ball over to right-hander Hunter Strickland, who walked Brandon Nimmo to load the bases.
Angel Stadium sits on one side of the 57 freeway while Honda Center, the home of the Anaheim Ducks, sits on the other side, visible from beyond the rocks and the waterfall in center field. Martinez took a 2-0 sinker 419 feet to dead center, practically hitting it all the way over to the hockey rink.
The Mets expected to come back in the eighth when Mark Vientos hit a ground-rule double off Matt Moore to lead off, but Moore retired the next two before the Angels brought in Joyce.
Joyce’s velocity and command proved to be too tough. The 23-year-old recorded four outs for his first career save.
“I’ve never seen a fastball like that,” Martinez said. “For me, it was the fastest fastball I’ve ever faced. I laughed after he struck me out, I was kind of smiling. I was like, ‘whoa.’ I had to look up at the radar, like that was different. Kudos to him, he throws hard with a lot of movement. He wasn’t sitting there flipping stuff, it was power, power.
“I respect him for that.”
Right-hander Jose Soriano blanked the Mets over six innings, allowing five hits, walking two and striking out six.
Left-hander David Peterson bounced back from a rough start and a rough first inning to reach the sixth. He limited the Angels to two earned runs on five hits, walked one and struck out four.
“I thought he did really good, especially after the first inning when, I thought, he was having a hard time with the strike zone,” Mendoza said. “He settled in nicely and pitched a really good game. Couple of two-out hits, but he did a hell of a job for us.”
