Anatomy Of An At-Bat: Tyrone Taylor's Game-Tying Shot

[Michael Reed]

Image courtesy of © Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Without Tyrone Taylor and his heroic swing in the bottom of the ninth, the narrative of the game would have been one of continued defensive mishaps and disappointing at-bats with runs in scoring position. Luckily, the New York Mets don't have to live in that reality, as Taylor completely erased the New York Yankees' lead in the ninth inning of the rubber match of the Subway Series.

To the naked eye, the at-bat was cut and dry; Taylor received a first-pitch curveball that deserved to be hit over the fence and then some. But there was some intuition and baseball IQ shown by Taylor before and during that at-bat that should get a lot of props.

In Taylor's at bat in the seventh inning, he hit a fastball at 104 mph straight to the left fielder Max Schuemann. Coming into his at-bat against a fastball-heavy closer in David Bednar, he knew there was a likelihood he would not get one on the first pitch.

Bednar’s curveball is the pitch he uses the least and feels the least confident in. The pitch this season has a .412 batting average against. However, Bednar threw a curveball to the prior hitter Mark Vientos.

So, with that knowledge, Taylor came up with a plan to anticipate on Bednar’s curveball on the first pitch and sure enough, it came. An 80 mph curveball hanging in the middle of the plate came and went 404 feet to left field. A questionable call from catcher Austin Wells to call his closer’s worst pitch in such a big moment.

Taylor in one swing took a 6-3 Mets deficit to a tie game. Famously, the Mets had not won a game they were trailing after the eighth inning since 2024. Thanks to Taylor’s swing and Carson Benge’s walk off, that streak is now broken.

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