Three of the newest members of the New York Mets came through in key situations for the club on Saturday afternoon.
Most importantly, so did three of the Mets’ longest-tenured players.
The Mets hope an offensive outburst carries over Sunday afternoon, when they host the San Francisco Giants in the finale of a three-game series between the National League rivals.
Mets right-hander Frankie Montas (3-1, 5.46 ERA) is slated to start against Giants left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (0-0, 7.20).
Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer while Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo combined for seven RBIs Saturday, when the Mets squandered an early lead before routing the Giants 12-6 to end a four-game losing streak.
Alonso, Lindor and Nimmo finished a combined 8-for-12 for the Mets, who finished with 13 hits — their most since they had 13 in a 7-3 win over the Atlanta Braves on June 25.
The 12 runs were the most for the Mets since July 5, when they beat the New York Yankees 12-6.
Lindor and Nimmo teamed with Cedric Mullins, who was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, to give the Mets the lead for good in the fourth.
Mullins singled for his first hit with New York and stole second before scoring on Nimmo’s single. Lindor followed with a bunt single to score Brett Baty from third with the go-ahead run.
“I don’t think anyone had Francisco Lindor push-bunting for a run on their bingo card today,” Alonso said with a grin.
The Mets’ rebuilt bullpen limited the Giants to two runs over the final five innings. Gregory Soto, acquired from the Orioles on July 25, and Tyler Rogers, obtained from the Giants on Wednesday, combined for 1 2/3 scoreless innings.
“The beautiful thing about this team — we can win in a ton of different ways,” Alonso said. “There’s no one way to win a ballgame. I think this squad is really dynamic.”
The fourth-inning rally by the Mets began ending any hopes San Francisco had of building momentum with a second straight win. The Giants scored four unanswered runs following Alonso’s first-inning homer but got just one runner to second base between the fifth and eighth innings.
San Francisco hasn’t won consecutive games since July 22-23. An 0-6 homestand last week forced the Giants to sell at the deadline, when they traded Rogers as well as reliever Camilo Doval and outfielder Mike Yastrzemski.
The Giants enter Sunday six games out of the third and final National League wild-card spot.
“We have good players,” Giants designated hitter Wilmer Flores said Saturday afternoon. “We still have good pitching. It all comes down to executing. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. When we execute, we win.”
Neither of Sunday’s starting pitchers, Montas nor Whisenhunt, factored into the decision when they started games last Monday night. Montas gave up five runs over 4 1/3 innings as the Mets fell to the San Diego Padres 7-6, and Whisenhunt made his major league debut and allowed four runs over five innings in the Giants’ 6-5 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Montas is 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in four career starts against the Giants.
–Field Level Media
