Mets' JD Martinez 'laughed' after striking out on Ben Joyce's historic 104.7 mph pitch

The New York Mets suffered a 5-4 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night, and along the way, they were the victim of a historic pitch from Ben Joyce. The flamethrowing reliever ended the game with a 104.7 MPH pitch that JD Martinez fanned at, with that pitch from Joyce being the fastest pitch recorded in the statcast era.

Martinez had previously been the hero for the Mets in this game, as he had driven in all four of their runs when he hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh inning. He stood no chance against Joyce's rocket of a pitch to end the game, though, and afterwards, Martinez said he could only laugh after realizing what had just happened.

“It was hard, I've never seen a fastball like that. That's the fastest fastball I've ever faced. He threw it, I laughed. After he struck me out, I was kind of smiling. I was like ‘Whoa.' I had to look up at the radar, and said, ‘That was different.' But kudos to him. He throws hard, and comes right at you.” – JD Martinez, ESPN

JD Martinez, Mets stood no chance against Ben Joyce's historic speed

While Mason Miller of the Oakland Athletics has drawn a lot of attention for his ability to consistently hit triple-digits on the radar gun, Joyce on the Angels has been hitting even higher numbers than Miller. Los Angeles' talented righty has been really solid for them when he's pitched this season (1-0, 1.82 ERA, 1 SV, 21 K, 1.10 WHIP), and when you are throwing nearly 105 MPH, it's not hard to see why that's happening.

Martinez stepped up in a big way for New York earlier in this game, but there was virtually nothing he could do to combat Joyce's historically fast pitch. By the time he had a chance to prepare for it, it was already in the back of the catcher's mitt, and the game was over. Sometimes as a hitter, there's simply nothing you can do about that.

This was certainly a tough loss for New York to get dealt, as it pushed their record to 58-52 on the year, which now has them sitting a half game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for the third and final National League wild card spot. Things didn't go their way thanks to Joyce in this game, but the Mets and Martinez will look to bounce back and pick up a victory in the rubber-match on Sunday afternoon.