The New York Mets pitched well but didn't hit much, leaving it up to Mark Vientos to power NY to an extra-innings win.
The New York Mets took the first game of their three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-1 in 10 innings, as Mark Vientos supplied the offense to go with some excellent pitching performances.
Nolan McLean got the Mets off to a strong start in this game, although he struggled with his command and control early. McLean gave up solo homer to Nolan Arenado in the second, but overall this wound up being one of his best starts of the season as he gave up just that one run in six innings while striking out six, and Arizona got just three hits off McLean.
The Mets didn’t do much with Arizona starter Ryne Nelson, though, and what little they did was all about Mark Vientos. He hit a solo home run in the second, but McLean quickly gave back the brief lead with Arenado’s blow.
That made it a 1-1 game, the rest of what happened was a parade of relievers throwing up goose eggs. The two teams managed just seven hits in regulation play, with the Mets relying on Luke Weaver, Brooks Raley and Devin Williams to keep the zeroes coming.
It was Vientos who broke the scoring drought in the tenth as he doubled to left to score ghost runner Brett Baty from second, and Carson Benge added a ground rule double to score Vidal Brujan, who entered the game as a pinch runner for Vientos. The goat for Arizona was reliever Kevin Ginkel, who was only able to get a single out before being relieved by Jonathan Loaisiga.
The key pitching performance was supplied by Tobias Myers in the bottom of the inning as he recovered from his bad outing in Colorado to hold Arizona scoreless and pick up his first save of the season. Myers struck out a pair of Diamondback hitters, leaving no doubt that this one was over. Williams got the win to boost his record to 2-1, with Ginkel taking the loss for the Snakes.
The Mets still aren’t hitting much, and that’s a problem. There are holes up and down the lineup, and the experiment of trying Juan Soto in the leadoff spot clearly isn’t working, with Soto now mire in a 2-for-17 slump. He tends to struggle in Arizona, so the Mets will need to find offense from other sources beyond Vientos, although Benge is starting to deliver some key hits.
The win gave the Mets a chance to win their third series in a row, and they’ll send Clay Holmes to the mound against Merrill Kelly for Arizona as they try to nail this one down.