NEW YORK -- When the Mets fell behind by three runs in the first inning Thursday, it took only a few innings for Brett Baty to punch back with a game-tying, two-run homer. When New York put a runner in scoring position one inning later, it took just two batters for Juan Soto -- sore ankle and all -- to knock him home for the go-ahead run.
From those clutch hits to Nolan McLean’s seven strong innings to Hayden Senger’s run-scoring safety squeeze in the sixth, the Mets -- the same Mets who held Major League Baseball’s worst record as recently as three days ago -- are suddenly getting things right when they need them. They’re playing fun baseball again. They’re experiencing success.
Their 9-4 win over the Tigers, powered by Baty, Soto and Mark Vientos (to name just a few), capped their first series sweep of the season at Citi Field, while also marking the third time in franchise history they’ve come back from multiple runs down in every game of a sweep of at least three games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“There’s a lot to like,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We won in a lot of different ways. We swung the bat well. We created traffic. We ran the bases well. We got timely hitting. The pitching was outstanding. … Overall, the whole series, I thought we played complete, complete games.”
Things didn’t begin swimmingly for McLean, who allowed a three-run homer to Gage Workman in the first. But A.J. Ewing led off the third inning with his first career homer, and Baty tied things with a two-run shot in the fourth. One inning later, Carson Benge continued to spark the Mets with a single and a replay-aided stolen base, which allowed him to score easily on Soto’s single up the middle.
Vientos followed with a two-run homer and Soto and Marcus Semien added solo shots in the seventh and eighth, respectively, turning this into a relatively breezy afternoon for the Mets. It helped that after Mendoza deployed all his high-leverage relievers in Wednesday’s victory, McLean shook off a rocky start to complete seven innings for the second time this season. That saved the bullpen.
“I’m pretty happy with getting into the seventh today,” McLean said, noting that he tried to be more unpredictable with his fastball variations in the middle innings. “I just had to find what was working, get creative a couple times and find different pitches that were working.”
It also helped that Soto, who exited Wednesday’s game after fouling a ball sharply off his right ankle, healed well enough overnight to return to the lineup the following day. Soto’s multihit effort was his second in three games.
“It’s always great to come through for your team,” Soto said. “Definitely in a big situation right there with a guy in scoring position, try to get him in, take the lead. I think it’s huge to get some gas for the team to keep going.”
Soto went on to say that the Mets are “capable to do whatever we want to do,” which is a far cry from how things seemed early this season, when the team stumbled out to a 10-21 start, began suffering a string of significant injuries and looked very much like a club incapable of righting itself.
To be clear, the Mets have not fixed all their problems. In all likelihood, nearly half their starting lineup is going to remain out until June or even July. The schedule will eventually grow harder, with a taste of that coming this weekend when the Yankees bus over to Queens for three Subway Series games.
But the Mets, if nothing else, have demonstrated a bit of resilience for the first time this season, routinely coming from behind to win games and then finishing the job more often than not. Rookies Ewing, Benge, McLean and Christian Scott have been a significant part of the renaissance and will continue to be going forward. Eventually, the team will need more. But right now, this formula is working.
To paraphrase what so many of them have said over the past two weeks, they dug themselves into this hole. Only they can dig their way out of it.
“We’ve been through a lot,” Mendoza said. “It feels like when we went through that stretch -- every time we got down a couple of runs, the game was over. That was the feeling. Now we’re down three in that first inning, and you still feel good.”