The New York Mets won for their third time in four games as they overpowered the Giants.
The New York Mets flexed their power muscles last night against the San Francisco Giants, using home runs from four different players to post a 10-6 win in the opening game of their three-game series.
The Mets ran out to a big lead early, and for the first half of the game it looked like this might be a laugher. Mark Vientos got New York on the board in the first with a three-run blast off San Francisco starter Matt Wilkinson, and the Mets added four more in the second, with Francisco Alvarez and Bo Bichette doing the home run honors to make it 7-0.
The Giants came back with two in the third against Nolan McLean, who didn’t have his best stuff in this one. He seemed to lose focus after getting the big cushion, and Rafael Devers capitalized by hitting a two-run double.
The Mets stretched the lead to 9-2 in the sixth on a two-run homer from Francisco Lindor, but after that the Giants started to make things interesting. Turner Hill got a run home in the seventh off reliever Jefrey Yan, and Devers struck again in the eighth with a three-run homer off Austin Warren to cut the Mets lead to 9-6.
Alvarez restored order in the Mets’ half of the eighth with another solo homer, however, and New York was able to get the win. McLean ran his record to 11-8 with a line that had him going six innings and giving up six hits and four walks to go with the two runs, although he did come up with some key strikeouts among the seven he posted.
The win was the Mets' third in their last four games, and they’re now just two games behind the Washington Nationals in the NL East, one in the loss column.
It’s been a long trudge to get to this position, but the Mets now have a legitimate shot at escaping from the NL East basement, especially with the Nats losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers last nigh and facing a tough series against the San Diego Padres after that on their current West Coast swing. The Giants, meanwhile, remain perched just above the woeful Colorado Rockies in the NL West.
The Mets will have to hold up their end to pull that off, though, and the series continues this afternoon with Zac Thornton facing Anthony Molina in the second game of the series.
