Mark Vientos hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the 11th to send the Mets to a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals Sunday afternoon at Citi Field. The win salvaged the final game of the series and kept the Mets over .500, as their record stands at 14-13.
The Mets trailed by a run to start the 11th. Tyrone Taylor grounded out to send the zombie runner to third base. But a line drive up the middle by Jeff McNeil was snagged by the pitcher for the second out. Harrison Bader fell behind in the count but lined a single to center to tie the game, bringing Vientos to the plate.
Vientos entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and delivered a single but was left stranded. Like Bader, Vientos fell behind in the count before delivering the game-winning hit, a homer to center. Vientos now has three hits since his recall.
Jose Quintana got the start and had a rough first inning, where he threw 26 pitches. But he settled down and became the first Mets pitcher to throw a pitch in the eighth inning. He finished with 8 IP and 1 ER but did not factor into the decision.
Francisco Lindor tied the game with his fifth homer of the season. He also had two walks and a steal in the game.
Reed Garrett pitched the final two innings and picked up the win. Every year there’s someone in the pen who racks up the victories and this year it’s Garrett, who moves to 5-0 on the year.
Frustrating with Mets hitting so poorly with guys on base, but then uplifting with clutch hitting at the end with Bader and Vientos!
Kudos to Mendoza on putting in Vientos for Baty the last two games! Next step: starting him at 3B more and more!
Great to salvage the last game and get some momentum for the incoming Cubs. Caught the last three innings in the car on our way back from a NYC day trip. Great outing by Quintana to go eight. Lindor keeps moving forward and kudos to Bader for tying the game. Great job by Vientos coming in cold off the bench. Can sure use his bat. I like Severino to fit deep against the Cubs tomorrow.
They all count the same, but this was a big win. Squandering an 8 inning 1 run start in front of a big Sunday crowd would have been very disheartening. Kudos to Quintana, and congratulations to Mr. Vientos.
Gut Reaction: Bader delivered a clutch hit with two strikes and two outs. It was against a LHP in which he has a career. 814 OPS.
Quintana was masterful and lowering his era to 3.48. Mendoza let him finish the 8th inning because he managed the “live” game and not the scripted game.
Garrett won his fifth game pitching stressful two innings with the ghost runner. He also lowered his era to O.61.
Do they send down Baty when Marte returns? Would it be a knee jerk response? Mets don’t need two third baseman and neither of them can play the Keystone. I would pick Vientos because he has put up the best offensive numbers and can also play first base.
Hard to argue with the thinking on Baty v Vientos. I mean its small sample size v even smaller sample size, but what we are seeing matters.
Mendoza was still following the script. Despite the inning total, Quintana’s pitch count in his previous 4 starts has been between 91 and 102. Today it was 99. And with both Raley and Smith on the IL, even by the analytics book says this was the way to go. .
Baty hasn’t hit the ball well this year. He simply had good luck for a stretch, even while his ground ball rate was still high, and his hard-hit ball rate(s) were low. Sending him down might be a little earlier than they’d plotted it, but would not be a knee jerk reaction.
Baty’s slugging on the year is .317. His numbers the last two weeks are .143/.250/.179. That’s hard to defend. Yes, his glove looks better and the kid needs to learn at the MLB level, and ideally, I’d like to see at least two more weeks, but I can understand the Mets decision either way.
Where do I start?
Is it telling everyone in the ninth that Vientos would hit a homer to win the game? [wrong inning, but, hey! LOL]
Is it pointing out how often the Cardinals pushed their fewer baserunners along than the Mets? Or, how a Mets team fell into a deep sleep and let a pop lefty hitter against a lefty squeeze home a run because Baty thought Johnny Bench was hitting? If the kid isn’t thinking the game, he needs to go back to school and know the opposition. I don’t know whose fault that was.
Is it that Quintana was wonderful today and his offense was putrid and inconsistent? We pinch hit for Nido in the ninth and not have a righty bat for Stewart when we know how many lefties are in the Cardinals bullpen?
Let it out big guy!