The Mets finally won a game!
However, it doesn't come without a cost with Francisco Lindor picking up a calf injury
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets snapped their 12-game losing streak after beating the Twins 3-2 at Citi Field on Wednesday night - their first win since April 7 (box)
RHP Clay Holmes gave the Mets seven very strong innings, giving up just two earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out three
RHP Luke Weaver got out of a bases-loaded situation in the eighth and then stayed in for the ninth, striking out OF Byron Buxton to secure the win
SS Francisco Lindor put the Mets on the board with an RBI single in the first, before C Francisco Alvarez restored the lead with a RBI double in the fourth
1B Mark Vientos, who committed an absolute clunker on the basepaths earlier in the game, provided the game-winning run in the eighth inning with a bloop single
LF Juan Soto looked sharp in his return to action, making hard contact while going 1-for-3 with a walk
Despite winning, the Mets still didn’t look great offensively, finishing 2-for-8 with RISP and leaving seven runners stranded on base
Roster Moves 📰
OF Juan Soto reinstated from the 10-Day IL
C Hayden Senger optioned to Triple-A Syracuse
Injury Updates 🩺
SS Francisco Lindor left Wednesday’s game with left calf tightness and will now undergo an MRI today to determine the extent of the damage
LHP A.J. Minter (left lat injury) allowed one earned run on three hits with no walks and no strikeouts across one inning of work for Triple-A Syracuse on Wednesday night
Play of the Game ⭐️
Luke Weaver arguably deserves this honor after striking out Byron Buxton to secure the win and put all Mets fans out of their misery by ending the losing streak.
However, Weaver wouldn’t have been able to do what he did in the ninth were it not for Mark Vientos doing what this offense has so often struggled to do this year: come up with the big hit.
In the bottom of the eighth with two outs, Vientos blooped a single to right field to score Brett Baty and give the Mets a lead with some clutch hitting.
Not only did it prove to be the winning run, but Vientos also redeemed himself after running through a stop sign and getting thrown out at the plate in the sixth inning.
The Just Mets Podcast 🎙️
SUBSCRIBE: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Down on the Farm 🌾
DH Ji Hwan Bae (Triple-A): 2-for-5, 3 RBI, 1 2B
2B Jackson Cluff (Triple-A): 2-for-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, 1 BB, 1 HR, 1 SB
3B Jacob Reimer (No. 5 prospect, Double-A): 4-for-4, 1 R, 1 2B
SS Elian Peña (No. 8 prospect, Single-A): 1-for-3, 1 R, 2 BB
BOX SCORES
Single-A SLU | High-A BRK | Double-A BNG | Triple-A SYR
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (8-16) vs. Twins (12-12)
Where: Citi Field - Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Christian Scott (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Joe Ryan (2-2, 3.29 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Rejoice! The Mets actually won! (But not without a cost) ✍️
Can you believe it?
The Mets actually came out on the winning side on Wednesday night.
It had been so long that I actually forgot what winning felt like. Not seeing your team win in over two weeks will do that to you.
It also felt good to see Juan Soto back out on the field after missing three weeks because of injury. More importantly, the superstar hitter didn’t look rusty, instead hitting a couple of hard balls and reaching base twice.
Soto just being back in the lineup no doubt gave everyone associated with the team a huge mental lift. He will be key to any kind of turnaround in Queens.
Of course, with this being the Mets, snapping the losing streak didn’t exactly come easy.
The offense largely struggled against what is a rebuilding Twins team, and they should be thanking their lucky stars that three runs were enough on this night. Even so, scoring just three runs and going 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position should hardly be seen as something to celebrate.
There was also another comical blunder with Mark Vientos running right through the stop sign and getting thrown out at the plate in the sixth inning. Granted, Vientos did atone for that mistake by providing the winning run late in the game, but even so, the kind of cheap, ugly mental errors that have plagued the Mets so far this season are still showing up even on the rare occasion when they actually do win.
More importantly, however, the win could come at a huge cost with Francisco Lindor being forced to leave the game with left calf tightness. He will undergo an MRI later today, and the organization will be crossing its fingers that it is nothing serious. Even so, Soto dodged a bullet but still ended up missing three weeks, and look at how that impacted the Mets. Not exactly setting the world alight in the first place, the wheels completely fell off once Soto went on the IL. Any kind of absence for Lindor could and probably will set a team back that is desperately trying to build some momentum after finally snapping the losing streak last night.
And therein lies the rub.
Even when things go right for the 2026 Mets, something still goes wrong. It is worth noting that Lindor was starting to get on a roll. He was involved in both of the first two runs the Mets scored last night, while he recorded four RBIs in the first two games against Minnesota combined. For as bad as he’s been to start the season, Lindor does always turn it around, and his potential absence could be another hammer blow.
Because, while we should be happy after last night’s win, it hardly cures all that is wrong with this franchise. As already mentioned, the offense still struggled against what is hardly an elite Twins team. Players are still making routine errors on a regular basis. And while Soto is back, he can’t be expected to carry this team on his back alone. If that’s the plan, then the Mets really are screwed. After all, he’s only going to get a maximum of five at-bats every game, and he’s hardly a game-changer out in the field.
It will be on others to start playing at a high level too, but I’m still not convinced how good this team is, especially if Lindor is now out for any kind of stretch.
Don’t get me wrong, snapping the losing streak was important in order to stop the black cloud hovering over Citi Field from getting any larger. It was important to put a temporary halt to all the toxicity, but one win doesn’t wash away all the negative feelings about this team, nor does it inspire much confidence that a turnaround is on the horizon.
There is an awful amount of work for this team to do just to both get back to .500, and to also build back up goodwill with the fanbase. That has to happen first before we start talking about anything else.
Again, nothing I saw on Wednesday convinced me that this is an elite team on the cusp of putting it all together and going on a run. And, if the news back on Lindor is indeed bad, then that once again changes the calculus.
However, with all of that said, it is important to celebrate the small wins, and breaking the shackles of the losing streak was crucial. Wins are wins, and we all deserve to bask in the glow of last night after enduring so much suffering the last few weeks.
Let’s just hope last night’s win proves to be the first positive step forward, and not a brief mirage in an oasis of misery and bad baseball.
Around the League 🚩
The Padres signed veteran RHP Lucas Giolito to a one-year deal with a mutual option for 2027 (MLB.com)
Orioles 2B Jackson Holliday is undergoing another MRI for continued hand discomfort (Baltimore Banner)
White Sox slugger Munetaka Murakami tied a franchise record after homering in a fifth straight game
The Cubs have now won eight straight after beating the Phillies, 7-2, the team’s longest win streak in April since 1970
LHP Max Fried tossed eight scoreless innings with nine strikeouts as the Yankees beat the Red Sox, 4-1
The Braves have the best record in baseball after beating Washington, 8-6, with OF Michael Harris III hitting a pair of homers