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👑 Sunday, April 20 • Mets Series Game 3 👑

Six Runs, One Statement

Kansas City Royals at NY Mets | Citi Field
Weather: Cloudy (48°) | Wind blowing in from LF (13 mph) | Attendance: 35,097 | First pitch: 1:40 PM ET

Pregame Memo (Manager's Desk)

Finale day in Queens—tight series, tight park, and the kind of getaway game that tries to sneak a “we’ll see what happens” attitude into the lineup. I wanted the opposite. Citi Field rewards discipline and punishes lazy at-bats, so the goal was to strike early, keep traffic moving, and give Jordan Montgomery enough runway to work at his pace.

New York Mets Series Snapshot

New York’s been sturdy at home and doesn’t give away innings. Leads feel smaller here, and a one-run game can turn into a ninth-inning grind in a hurry. Two games into Queens and it felt like we’d already played three: we punched first on Friday, got squeezed into a one-run scrap Saturday, and now the rubber match sat there like a dare. The Mets had proven they could manufacture just enough noise to make every inning matter, so the message in our room was simple— today was about finishing, scoring early, answering back, and not letting Citi Field turn this into a late-inning coin flip. We're banking on a series win on the road and leaving town with our bullpen still intact.

Here are the projected pitching matchups, our pitchers listed first:

RHP H. Brown (2-0, 2.77 ERA) vs LHP A. Heaney (1-1, 8.10 ERA)
RHP S. Turnbull (2-0, 1.50 ERA) vs RHP K. Senga (2-0, 2.57 ERA)
LHP J. Montgomery (1-2, 5.09 ERA) vs RHP M. Vasil (0-0, 12.00 ERA)

Series Matchup Board — NY Mets Series Game 3

• LHP J. Montgomery (1-2, 5.09 ERA) vs RHP M. Vasil (0-0, 12.00 ERA)

Vasil had been tagged early in his season line, but I didn’t want “numbers scouting.” The plan was to stay on the fastball when it showed and take the free bases when he tried to nibble. For Montgomery, it was about living in the zone and letting the ground balls and double-play turns do the quiet work.
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Game Day Log — Royals vs. Mets (Game 3)

Inning-by-Inning Beats (Dugout View)

1st Inning
We landed the first punch. Bobby Witt Jr. doubled with two outs, and Salvador Perez turned a 2–0 count into a two-run homer (376 ft) to make it 2–0 before the Mets could settle in.
New York answered right back: Jett Williams got hit, stole second, and scored on a Francisco Lindor double. 2–1, and you could feel the game lock into that Citi Field tempo immediately.

2nd Inning
We drew a pair of walks (Schneider, Payton) and moved the runners, but couldn’t land the finishing swing. Still liked the at-bats—made Vasil work and showed him we weren’t giving away outs.

3rd Inning
We manufactured one the right way. Witt singled, stole second, Perez singled him to third, and Michael Massey punched a single through to cash it. 3–1 Royals. Clean execution, clean pressure.

4th–5th Innings
A couple of chances flickered—Haggerty singled, Vinnie singled, and we kept testing the infield—but nothing broke open. Montgomery matched it with steady outs and kept the Mets from turning the game into a sprint.

6th Inning
This was the inning that should’ve let us breathe. Waters singled, Garcia walked, and Vinnie Pasquantino ripped a two-run double that scored both runners. 5–1, and it felt like we’d grabbed the handle.

Bottom half, New York pushed back with traffic: Lindor got hit, Vientos singled, and Ryan Clifford lined an RBI single—plus another run came home on an aggressive send where the runner beat the throw. Suddenly, it was 5–3, and the dugout knew we were in for a finish.

7th Inning
We didn’t score, but we put pressure on—three hits in the inning and the bases loaded tension—then came up empty with two strikeouts to end it. That one stung because it was the chance to bury it.
Bottom half, Jett Williams hit a solo homer off Bernardino to cut it to 5–4.

8th Inning
We needed one more, and we got it with the kind of at-bat that wins in this park. Pasquantino walked, and Massey drilled an RBI double to score him. 6–4 Royals. Bottom half, Bernardino induced a double play (6–4–3) to kill a Mets threat—exactly the kind of outs you chase when the game is tightening.

9th Inning
The ninth got loud. Jorge Alfaro walked, Jeff McNeil singled, and Williams singled in a run to make it 6–5 with traffic still on. We limited the damage and got the last out on a ground ball—game ended with the tying run left out there, and the handshake line felt like exhale.
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Final

Royals 6, Mets 5
Royals (13 H, 0 E) | Mets ((7 H, 1 E)

Now 12-4, the 2025 Royals have been outstanding so far. Kansas City Royals starter Jordan Montgomery earned Player of the Game: 6.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 5 K, 1 BB—not perfect, but steady and competitive. Bernardino bridged late, and Jalen Beeks closed it down for Save #2 in a ninth that tried to tilt.

Offensively, the tone-setters were loud: Perez’s two-run homer, Pasquantino’s two-run double, and Massey’s two RBI knocks (including the insurance double in the 8th).

"It's nice to deliver when your team's counting on you," said Perez.

Kansas City Pitching Scoreline
Pitcher           Dec           IP     H    R   ER   BB    K   HR    PI    ERA
J. Montgomery     W (2-2)       6.0    4    3    3    1    5    0    97   4.94
B. Bernardino     H (1)         2.1    1    1    1    1    3    1    30   5.06
J. Beeks          SV (2)        0.2    2    1    1    1    0    0    26   4.76

Front Office Note / Takeaways

This was a solid road win that still leaves a few reminders pinned to the board. The good: we scored early, we added on, and we answered every time Citi Field tried to shrink the game on us. Perez delivered when the inning demanded a swing, and Massey’s bat continues to show up in leverage spots.

The lesson: the “quiet finish” matters. We had a bases-loaded opportunity in the 7th inning to turn a one-run sweat into a clear win and didn’t capitalize. That’s the difference between a comfortable series victory and a ninth-inning struggle. We still won the series and left New York 12–4—exactly the kind of trip that builds confidence in the right way.

Around the League

April baseball is already taking attendance—good teams are banking road wins, and everyone else is explaining why they didn’t. We kept ours simple: win the series, get on the plane, and let the standings do the talking.
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👑 FOR THE CROWN — ALWAYS 👑

Kansas City Royals | Regular Season 2025 - Game 16



(OOTP25 Royals Journey — GM/Manager's Dual Log)