Slumping Dominic Smith came off the bench to deliver a go-ahead 3-run homer in the seventh inning, the start of a 12-run outburst over the final three innings, which led to a 14-4 win over the Twins and a sweep of the two-game series. It was the fourth straight win for the Mets, tying their season-best mark.
It was a good day for the Mets and the long ball, as Amed Rosario cracked his 10th HR of the season in the third inning and Pete Alonso hit an absolute monster, a ball that was half way up the third deck in left field in the eighth. Rosario had a 4-hit game and now stands with a .754 OPS.
The Mets finished with 17 hits, as every starter except Robinson Cano had at least one hit.
Jason Vargas gave up three runs, including two solo homers, in six innings and was the winning pitcher. It was the fifth Quality Start of the season for Vargas. Jeurys Familia pitched a scoreless seventh inning. We saw Seth Lugo warming up to come pitch in the eighth inning, despite having pitched in three of the last four games but the Mets’ six-run outburst in the top of the frame made using him unnecessary. Chris Mazza and his ridiculous stir-up socks – they made Sean Gilmartin’s look tolerable – pitched the final two frames.
Gut reaction: finally something to cheer about, a 4 game winning streak! Dom Smith pulled himself up from his boot straps and hit a clutch 3-run homerun to put the Mets ahead. Another good sign was Familia closing the door with a shutout inning in the next frame. In recent years, Vargas has only been able to put together 1/2 season so his bounce back start was also encouraging.
Too bad Juan Lagares can’t face that ninth inning “pitcher” more often.
We simply need to take it one game at a time. Let’s simply think taking the opener at SF. If our pen pitches like it did over the last four games then our entire outlook might change. We still need to be sellers and get rid of expiring contracts for prospects. We do have a good young core of players to build on, but The reality is that several of the teams that are in front of us for the wildcard positions are much better than we are. Need to gear up for next year
+1