Major League Baseball
NY Mets 3, Minnesota 2
When: 7:10 PM ET, Saturday, September 17, 2016
Where: Citi Field, New York City, New York
Temperature: 73°
Umpires: Home - Brian Gorman, 1B - Ramon De Jesus, 2B - Mike DiMuro, 3B - Quinn Wolcott
Attendance: 36941

NEW YORK -- For several weeks now, the promotional items given out to New York Mets fans have served as a cruel reminder of the Mets' season-long battle with injuries.

Fortunately for the Mets, the Curtis Granderson giveaway was months ago.

Granderson, the last man standing from the Mets' Opening Day lineup, tied the game with a homer in the 11th inning and won it with a solo walk-off shot in the 12th inning as the Mets moved into a tie for the first National League wild card with a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Twins at Citi Field.

The nine position players who took the field for the Mets in Kansas City on Opening Day have combined to play in just 805 out of a possible 1,332 games. Only Granderson, who has 28 homers but just 51 RBIs and has the second-lowest batting average (.221) among the 70 NL players with enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title, has spent the entire season on the active roster.

"He's a pro," Mets manager Terry Collins said. "If we go back and we measure what his season was like, there's all sorts of statistics we can use, there's all sorts of gauges.

"But I tell you, he's the guy that you just turn to. You just feel like he's going to do some damage when he's up to home plate. And lately he's been doing that."

Granderson has six homers in 12 games since becoming the Mets' cleanup hitter on Sept. 3. On Saturday, his homer to left leading off the 11th tied the game at 2-2 a half-inning after Twins centerfielder Bryon Buxton hit his own leadoff homer to left.

With two outs and none on in the 12th, Granderson worked the count full against Ryan O'Rourke (0-1) before homering to right field. He is the first Mets player in history to homer twice in extra innings in the same game.

The second homer ensured the crowd of 36,941 -- many of whom were wearing Saturday's giveaway, a Jacob deGrom "hair hat" -- would go home happy on a night the Mets learned deGrom will likely miss the rest of the season due to an ulnar nerve injury in his right elbow.

The Mets' giveaway on Sunday is David Wright eye black. Wright played just 37 games before undergoing season-ending neck surgery in June. Next Friday, the Mets give away T-shirts bearing the catcher's mask of Travis d'Arnaud, who has been limited to 67 games this season due to a right shoulder injury,

On the previous homestand, the Mets gave away a bobblehead of Opening Day starter Matt Harvey, who is out for the year due to thoracic outlet syndrome, as well as a Steven Matz lunch box. Matz hasn't pitched since Aug. 14 due to a left shoulder injury.

Granderson, meanwhile, had a sock giveaway back in May.

"It's unfortunate we ended up losing guys due to injury -- it's not like anyone's going out there trying to get themselves hurt," Granderson said. "Even though we don't play a physically demanding sport, there's going to be some times where guys are going to miss some time, unfortunately."

Despite all the injuries, the Mets are in control of their own destiny in the race for an NL wild-card spot. New York (79-69) moved into a tie for the first wild card with the San Francisco Giants and remained two games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals -- who beat the Giants 3-2 on Saturday -- for the second wild card.

"Big game, especially with the news earlier about Jake," Collins said. "They came out tonight knowing they needed to win this game and they did it."

Yoenis Cespedes had two hits, including a game-tying RBI single in the eighth inning, while T.J. Rivera finished with three hits.

Left-hander Josh Edgin, the Mets' eighth pitcher, earned the win with a hitless 12th. Starter Seth Lugo, who won his four previous starts, gave up one run, four hits and four walks while striking out two over five innings.

Eddie Rosario homered in the fourth inning while Buxton and Jorge Polanco had two hits apiece for the Twins (55-94), who have to go 8-5 down the stretch to avoid the franchise's first 100-loss season since 1982.

"You look for the ability to try to win those close games when you take leads," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "And we gave up one there in the eighth and then of course Granderson just having a big night."

The Twins have been outscored 6-2 in the first two games of the three-game series.

"It's tough," Molitor said. "These guys battled. Offense hasn't been there the last couple nights, but we pitched well enough to win."

Twins right-hander Ervin Santana left in line for the victory after allowing four hits and two walks while striking out nine over seven scoreless innings.

NOTES: The Mets moved 10 games over .500 for the first time this season. ... Rookie RHP Gabriel Ynoa will start Sunday in place of RHP Jacob deGrom. ... Twins manager Paul Molitor said an MRI on IF/OF Miguel Sano (back) showed no new injury and Sano could return to the lineup next week. ... Twins LF Eddie Rosario left after jamming his thumb while sliding into first base on a groundout that ended the 10th inning.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Minnesota   NY Mets
Ervin Santana Player Seth Lugo
No Decision W/L No Decision
7.0 IP 5.0
9 Strikeouts 2
4 Hits 4
0.00 ERA 1.80
Hitting
Minnesota   NY Mets
Jorge Polanco Player T.J. Rivera
2 Hits 3
0 RBI 0
0 HR 0
3 TB 4
.500 Avg .600
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Minnesota 8 2 15 .186 18 12 2 6 1 0
NY Mets 10 2 17 .227 18 16 3 3 0 0