Mark Vientos homered and drove in four runs, and Francisco Lindor and Francisco Alvarez notched three hits each as the Mets beat the Seattle Mariners 7-3 on Sunday night in the 2025 MLB Little League Classic in Williamsport, Penn.
Clay Holmes pitched around trouble to give the Mets five innings of one-run ball and the bullpen was effective to shut the door behind him as the Mets grabbed a series win, their first in the month of August.
New York improved to 66-58 on the year and is now 3.0 games behind the San Diego Padres for the second Wild Card spot.
Here are the takeaways...
- The Mets got the game’s first chance when Pete Alonso led off the home half of the second with a single through the left side of the infield and Jeff McNeil chunked a base hit down the line in left. Alvarez, on the fifth straight George Kirby slider, lined one into the left-center gap that just eluded Julio Rodriguez's glove for an RBI double. Brett Baty, against a drawn-in infield with two in scoring position, laced a 3-2 sinker up the middle for a run-scoring single before Vientos plated the Mets’ third run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Kriby gave New York a chance in the third, issuing a leadoff walk to Juan Soto and a one-out free pass to Alonso. But McNeil flied out to right and Alvarez grounded out to short to end the chance. The Mets created another opportunity off Kirby in the fourth as Vientos’ one-out single was followed by a Lindor single and Soto walk (featuring a Soto Shuffle much to the little leaguers' delight) to give Brandon Nimmo a two-out chance with the bases loaded. But he got jammed on a first-pitch 98 mph fastball to line out softly.
- With two down in the fifth, Vientos came to the plate with runners on first and second thanks to sharply hit one-out singles from McNeil and Alvarez, and Kirby left a 1-1 heater over the heart of the plate and the third baseman didn't miss it, driving it 385 feet the opposite way (103.5 mph off the bat) for a much-needed three-run shot to put the Mets up 6-1.
Cedric Mullins, who was 0-for-2 to that point with two strikeouts, roped a double into the corner in right and Lindor, on the sixth-straight Kirby curveball, golfed a drive into the right-center gap that the Mariners misplayed as Rodriguez called off right fielder Dominic Canzone and the ball fell in for an RBI double, his third hit of the night.
- In the seventh, Alvarez cracked his third hit of the game with a double off the wall in right, just beating the throw with a head-first slide. But the Mets catcher appeared to jam his right thumb into the bag on the slide. He immediately called for time and was examined by the Mets’ training staff. Alvarez remained in the game to run the bases and was eventually stranded at third, but was replaced in the top of the eighth behind the plate by Luis Torrens.
- The Mets got another chance with one out in the eighth when Soto worked his third walk of the night, stole second, and Nimmo singled to cover the corners. But Alonso went down swinging and McNeil tapped out to first.
New York finished the night 5-for-15 with runners in scoring position with 10 runners left on base.
- Holmes’ night got off to an auspicious start: He beaned Randy Arozarena near the head with a 92 mph sinker on the game’s first pitch. But the veteran got Cal Raleigh swinging on a slider below the zone and Rodriguez to ground into a 5-4-3 inning-ender. Holmes worked around a one-out infield single in the second and a leadoff single in the third to keep Seattle off the board through nine outs, needing 46 pitches.
Rodriguez smacked a 0-2 curveball of the outside corner for a double into the gap in right to start the fourth. Holmes got Josh Naylor looking at a changeup and Eugenio Suarez to ground out to short, but Jorge Polanco’s soft liner up the middle slipped past a leaping Lindor to score the Mariners’ first run.
It was a play that the shortstop should have made, and Holmes suffered as Canzone singled to right and J.P. Crawford worked a walk to load the bases. After the starter fell behind 3-0 to nine-hole hitter Cole Young, Holmes got an inning-ending pop out to short, but had to throw 16 extra pitches after the missed liner, which likely kept him from going deeper in the game.
After an 11-pitch 1-2-3 fifth inning, Holmes exited having allowed just one run on five hits, one walk, and one HBP with four strikeouts on 88 pitches (58 strikes).
- Needing 12 outs and protecting a six-run lead, Brooks Raley was the first man out of the Mets bullpen and worked around a two-on and two-out jam for a clean frame.
In the seventh, Reed Garrett retired the first man he faced before Arozarena singled to right and Raleigh took a splitter virtually off the ground and just snuck it over the wall down the line in left for a 338-foot two-run shot.
The struggling Ryan Helsley worked around a two-out walk in a clean eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts, sporing an effective cutter that got three whiffs (on five swings) and two called strikes.
Tyler Rogers worked around a pair of two-out singles in the ninth to close the door, stranding runners on the corners. The Mets staff limited their foes to 1-for-6 with RISP and left 10 men on base.
- The miscue in the field wasn’t Lindor’s only mistake of the day. After cracking a single to right to lead off the home half of the first, he was caught dancing off first base as the Mariners put a pickoff play on. It went down as a caught stealing, snapping the Mets’ streak of 39 successful steals.
Game MVP: Mark Vientos
Vientos, who went 2-for-3 with four RBI, had the big hit of the game as his home run helped burst the game open. Honorable mention to Alvarez for going 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and Lindor, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a strikeout.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets have Monday off and will head to Washington for a three-game series against the Nationals before heading to Atlanta for a weekend series with the Braves.
Left-hander David Peterson (3.30 ERA, 1.276 WHIP in 136.1 innings over 24 starts) gets the ball for Tuesday night's series opener against right-hander Jake Irvin (5.14 ERA, 1.379 WHIP in 140 innings over 25 starts). First pitch is set for 6:45 p.m. in D.C.
