The New York Mets downed the Seattle Mariners by a final score of 7-3, giving the Amazins their first back-to-back wins since last month, when they defeated the San Francisco Giants 2-1 on July 26th and 5-3 on July 27th. As of this writing, the Mets are 1.5 games ahead of the Cincinnati Reds for the third Wild Card spot in the National League.
“Winning is fun. Winning brings people together,” said New York shortstop Francisco Lindor during yesterday’s press conference. “When you’re going through tough times, good teams have conversation among themselves. And when you win, you celebrate a little bit more.”
After an uneventful first inning, the Mets got things going in the second to take a 3-0 lead. New York was easily able to handle Seattle pitcher George Kirby, who gave up 12 hits, a home run, and seven earned runs in the loss.
“I’m gonna go back to that first at bat from Mark Vientos, when he’s got runners in scoring position and he’s trying to get a ground ball there,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza after the win. “He took two really good sinkers and then got ’em up in the zone, and he was able to get that sac-fly. But I think just overall got ’em up. We were aggressive, especially with his fastball. We executed well.”
It was a fantastic evening for third baseman Mark Vientos. He finished the game with two hits, a home run, and four RBIs.
“I was just trying to see a fastball up in the zone, middle-middle,” Vientos explained. “I know he had a good two-seam action on his fastball. So I was just trying to see him middle-middle, not trying to do too much. We kind of talked about [it] before the game, and I thought it was a good game plan.”
After making it out of the second inning, Seattle earned one back in the top of the fourth. Unfortunately for the Mariners, the Mets responded with three more runs in the bottom of the fifth to extend the lead to 7-1, thanks in part to a three-run homer from Vientos.
“So far this year, it hasn’t been easy for him. A lot of ups and downs… It hasn’t been easy for him the past couple of weeks with inconsistent playing time,” Mendoza said of Vientos. “He plays one game, maybe sits for a few of them. It’s not an easy role, but that’s kind of like the messaging with him and some of the other younger players, like they got to stay ready. And to his credit, [I’m] proud of him because to have a game like that, against a really good arm, is pretty impressive. We need him. We need all of those guys. He was a big part of this team last year, and he’s going to be a big part here moving forward. We saw it tonight. He’s too good of a player and, hopefully, he can just take off from today.”
With a 7-1 advantage, the Mets would only allow the Mariners to score two more runs before winning last night’s game to give the Amazins their first series victory in three weeks.
“It feels good, it feels good. But again, one day at a time mentality,” Mendoza said. “We need to start winning series. We know we’re good. It’s been rough. It’s been tough for all of us, but there’s no looking back now. All we got to do is just be worried about what we need to do today to get a W and continue to win series. And I’m glad that we were able to do that this time.”
“You know, it’s a good thing right now, but at the end of the day, we enjoy tonight,” said Francisco Lindor. “It was a fantastic day overall, and then turn the page.”
The Mets are off today as they travel to Washington to take on the Nationals. The first pitch in that game is scheduled for tomorrow at 6:45 p.m. EDT.
