Brett Baty's clutch hitting, lineup tweaks lead to much-needed win in Boston
New York ends the road trip on a high thanks to big nights from Brett Baty and Huascar Brazobán. Plus, a new-look lineup pays dividends at Fenway Park...
What’s up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets beat the Red Sox 5-1 on Wednesday night to take the series finale and snap a three-game losing streak (box | highlights)
RHP Tylor Megill allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk with 10 strikeouts over 4.2 innings, but was pulled after twice loading the bases in the fifth
RHP Huascar Brazobán came in and got out of the jam, and allowed just one hit while striking out four over 2.1 innings of work. The bullpen combined to allow just two hits over 4.1 scoreless innings to finish the game
3B Brett Baty was the offensive spark all night, finishing 2-for-4 with an RBI single in the second inning, before driving in the go-ahead runs in the seventh
SS Francisco Lindor hit a solo home run in the ninth to snap New York’s streak of 217 at-bats without hitting a homer
Manager Carlos Mendoza reworked his lineup card, batting LF Starling Marte in the two-hole and bumping both RF Juan Soto and 1B Pete Alonso down
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Paul Blackburn (knee inflammation) dominated in his latest rehab start for Triple-A Syracuse, striking out six and walking just two over seven scoreless innings - he is expected to join the Mets soon
Hot Off The Press! 🗞️
In an exclusive interview with Jon Heyman, Mets icon Mike Piazza says that Juan Soto’s slow start with the Mets is a “rite of passage” and everything will work out for the superstar hitter in Queens (NY Post)
Play of the Game 🌟
The Mets were struggling to get anything going offensively once again at Fenway Park on Wednesday.
As a result, the game was tied going into the top of the seventh, and the Mets needed a spark from somewhere.
Up stepped Brett Baty.
With the bases loaded, and nobody out, Baty hit a clutch opposite field single that scored two runs and shifted all the momentum back over to New York. It was a lead that the Mets wouldn’t surrender the rest of the way.
It was a beautiful piece of hitting by Baty, who drove in three runs on the night and finished as the team’s biggest offensive spark. And, were it not for his ability to come up with a big hit in a huge spot in the seventh, the Mets may have ended up losing a fourth straight game.
Stat of the Day 📊
SS Francisco Lindor became just the fourth primary shortstop (with at least 50% of games at SS) to have at least 10 home runs in 10 of his first 11 seasons, joining Derek Jeter, Cal Ripken Jr. and Miguel Tejada (H/T Sarah Langs)
Who’s Cold? 🥶
DH Mark Vientos hasn’t hit a home run in nine straight games, and is hitting just .143/.208/.190/.399 over his last six games
Down on the Farm 🌾
DH Ronny Mauricio (No. 9 prospect, Triple-A): 2-for-2, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 HR, 1 SB
RHP Irving Cota (Single-A): 5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K
SS Jett Williams (No. 20) and RHP Jonah Tong (No. 50) were both named in Kiley McDaniel’s newly-released Top 50 MLB Prospects List (ESPN)
BOX SCORES
Single-A STL | High-A BRK (PPD) | Double-A BNG (SUS) | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓️
The Mets are off on Thursday and will return home ready to open up a nine-game homestand, starting with a three-game series against the Dodgers on Friday
Notes on Baty, Brazobán and lineup changes after a spirit-boosting win… ✍️
The Mets snapped a season-high three-game losing by beating the Red Sox in the series finale on Wednesday.
Yes, the war was still lost, but it was important that the Mets won that particular battle. Not only did they need to get back in the win column, but a positive night was just what the doctor ordered after a tough recent stretch.
Granted, not all of this team’s recent ills were cured at Fenway on Wednesday. Not by a long stretch. However, we did see some positive signs and we’re going to dive into a few of them now…
COMING UP CLUTCH
The offense has been a real cause of concern for the Mets as of late. It was better on Wednesday, but only because of one person: Brett Baty.
The third baseman was inserted into the lineup for his defense, given his struggles against lefties. However, Baty finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBIs, with all of his at-bats coming against a left-hander.
He got the Mets on the board in the top of the second inning with an RBI single off Boston ace Garrett Crochet - one of the best lefties in the game. That hit and at-bat set the tone for what was to come.
Baty followed that up with a monster hit in the seventh, blooping an opposite-field single off leftie reliever Brennan Bernardino to drive in the two go-ahead runs that effectively sealed the win for the Mets.
It was a huge moment for Baty, who came out on top in a 2-2 count with arguably one of the biggest hits of his season to date. It was the first time all year that he had recorded a hit against a leftie this year, and that should give both player and team a boatload of encouragement going forward.
Since being called back up, Baty is doing everything that has been asked of him, and he’s delivering in the process. How long this new-and-improved Baty lasts at the Major League level remains to be seen, but we saw tantalizing signs yet again on Wednesday that maybe, just maybe, Baty could be the future at third base.
His newfound ability to hit against lefties will certainly be an invaluable weapon should he find a way to build on Wednesday’s showing.
HERO TIME
Tylor Megill deserves a lot of credit for his outing on Wednesday. He bounced back from a recent stretch of tough starts, allowing just one earned run on four hits while tying a career-high with 10 strikeouts.
However, he ran into a lot of trouble in the fifth, loading the bases twice before being pulled from the game.
Enter Huascar Brazobán. The reliever had to come in to face a dangerous hitter in Alex Bregman with the bases loaded and two outs. He got ahead 0-2, but Bregman fought back and made it a full count. Given the Mets’ recent offensive struggles, any kind of big hit from Bregman and the game probably would have been over there and then.
Instead, Brazobán got Bregman looking and struck him out on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. That ended the fifth inning with the game still tied. Brazobán then came back out to pitch two more shutout innings to help chart a path towards victory.
It was another dominant performance in a long line of them by Brazobán this year. The veteran has been absolutely money so far this season, and he now owns a stellar 0.90 ERA with 30 strikeouts and a 0.77 WHIP in 30 innings.
After saving his team’s bacon in a huge way on Wednesday, we should probably talk about just how elite Brazobán has been this season a little more. After all, the Mets would have been waking up to a fourth consecutive defeat today were it not for the reliever’s heroics.
LINEUP TWEAKS PAY OFF (SORT OF)
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza decided to try and spark his slumping offense into life on Wednesday. He altered his lineup, pushing Juan Soto and Pete Alonso down to third and fourth in the order, respectively. Starling Marte, meanwhile, was moved up to the second-hole.
Of course, these changes were made primarily because the Mets were facing a lefty on the mound in Garrett Crochet. However, Mendoza did hint that we could see this new lineup configuration again.
Either way, the changes had the desired effect. Well, kind of. Francisco Lindor, still batting leadoff, went 2-for-5 with a solo home run in the ninth. Soto went 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI after driving in a runner on a sac fly.
But, on the flip-side, Marte finished 0-for-3 with a walk and Alonso went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts. And, remember, the offense struggled to really get anything going until Brett Baty’s big hit in the seventh. Heck, were it not for Baty’s 3 RBI night, the lineup would have produced almost nothing once again.
Granted, the Mets won the game so you can give Mendoza some credit for being proactive by making some tweaks to his lineup card. It wasn’t like he sat and did nothing.
With that said, though, the top of the lineup - Lindor aside - was still ineffective with Alonso and Soto going a combined 1-for-8 with one RBI. And, yes, the Mets finished 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position - a slight improvement based on recent events. But, they still left eight runners stranded on base and Soto did strike out three times on the night. Plus, Marte probably isn’t the long-term answer batting second in the lineup.
Overall, while Mendoza’s lineup changes worked in a way, the offense is still going to struggle until Soto starts to hit like Juan Soto and the team can figure out how to solve its RISP woes.
Ultimately, the Mets won on Wednesday thanks to a clutch performance from the bullpen and a big night from Baty, who was hitting ninth in the lineup. So let’s not get too crazy about the win or the changes to the lineup card.
Around the League 🚩
NBC made an offer to MLB to take over Sunday Night Baseball and the rest of ESPN’s inventory from next season (WSJ)
Giants RHP Justin Verlander was placed on the IL with pec discomfort
OF Jasson Domínguez delivered the Yankees’ first walk-off home run in 974 days in a 4-3 comeback win over the Rangers in the Bronx
The Tigers beat the Cardinals 5-1 and now have the best record in MLB through 50 games for the first time since 2006
RHP Shohei Ohtani was seen throwing sliders and curveballs in the bullpen on Wednesday as he continues to ramp up his pitching progression
Great piece on Soto in today's MLBTR. It starts off like this:
"Ralph asks:
What’s your take on Juan Soto’s lackluster performance to date?
My take is that it’s much ado about nothing."
Happy to see Baty come through. If he can hit he can be our X factor this year. Marte can NOT be the guy who bats 2nd. I liked the idea of a righty there though. I think Megill ends up in the bullpen and has the potential to be really good there.