In their final game before the trade deadline, the New York Mets did their best Monday night to convince president of baseball operations David Stearns to continue adding to the team.
The Minnesota Twins, in turn, were confident their most lopsided loss of the year was just an ill-timed hiccup.
The Mets will look to lock up a series win on Tuesday night when the teams play the second contest of the three-game set in New York.
Left-hander Sean Manaea (6-4, 3.74 ERA) is slated to oppose Twins right-hander David Festa (1-1, 8.16).
Jeff McNeil and Luis Torrens recorded three RBIs apiece and the Mets batted around in two different innings in their 15-2 romp over the Twins.
Pete Alonso’s homer leading off the fourth sparked a six-run inning for New York, which sent 11 batters to the plate during a five-run outburst in the sixth. The Mets added four more runs in the seventh.
The victory continued a two-month resurgence for the Mets, who have the best record in the majors at 34-17 since May 30. New York is in a virtual tie for the second National League wild-card spot with the San Diego Padres and a half-game behind the top wild card, the Atlanta Braves.
The Mets acquired reliever Phil Maton on July 9 and made trades for reliever Ryne Stanek and outfielder Jesse Winker on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
“I am just thinking bring more players to help us and keep going,” said Mets left-hander Jose Quintana, who earned the win Monday by allowing one run over six innings. “We’re in a pretty good race and we’re playing together, and I want to stay and make the playoffs.”
Minnesota remained in a playoff spot Monday night, although the convincing defeat reduced its margin for error thanks to wins by the Kansas City Royals and Boston Red Sox. The Twins are one game ahead of the Royals in the race for the second American League wild card and two games in front of the Red Sox.
The Twins are 34-24 since May 21, which is tied with the Houston Astros for the best record in the AL. They have won 14 of their last 19 series dating back to the three-game set against the Nationals on May 20-22.
“The last time we got beat like that was probably in Washington and then we came back to win the next two games,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “So I don’t think it’s anything that we’ll stew on for too long.”
Manaea didn’t factor into the decision last Wednesday after allowing two runs over 4 2/3 innings in the Mets’ 12-3 victory versus the New York Yankees. He is 5-1 with a 2.48 ERA in six career games (five starts) against the Twins.
Festa also didn’t factor into the decision last Wednesday after yielding one run over 4 1/3 innings in the Twins’ 5-4 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. The 24-year-old rookie has never opposed the Mets.
–Field Level Media
