The Mets opened up their series against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night with a 6-4 win to make it four straight victories.
Here are the key takeaways...
-- Following a difficult outing against the Miami Marlins his last time out, Zac Thornton turned the page and had himself a wonderful start while dealing with the elements. The left-hander’s night began with two scoreless innings where he faced the minimum with help from his defense, particularly in the second inning.
-- The first nifty play came from first baseman Jared Young, who was in the perfect spot to snag a line drive before stepping on the bag to begin an unassisted double play. A.J Ewing followed that up with a diving catch on a shallow fly ball to center field through the raindrops, which ended the inning.
-- But speaking of rain, it didn’t stop during the next half-inning, which caused the umpiring crew to pause the game and bring out the tarp and resulted in a 35-minute rain delay.
-- After the game resumed, the Mets tagged starter Carmen Mlodzinski for four runs in the third inning. Ewing began the inning with a single followed by a Francisco Lindor walk. With two outs following a baserunning blunder by Ewing on a flyout by Bo Bichette that resulted in two outs, Carson Benge knocked in a run with a single, his second run-scoring single of the game.
-- With runners at the corners after Young singled, Marcus Semien’s recent hot streak continued as he blasted a three-run shot to left field to put the Mets ahead, 5-0. The home run was Semien’s second in as many days and his 14th of the year, second on the team behind Juan Soto (21).
-- Thornton finally returned to the mound in the third inning after more than an hour since he last walked off the field to end the second inning and picked up right where he left off, but not without more help from his defense.
-- For the first out of the frame, Benge had to sprint across the field toward the left field foul line and made a sliding catch at the wall. The unbelievable play came at a cost, though, as Benge appeared to hurt his wrist. The outfielder finished the inning but left the game shortly after.
-- As for Thornton, the 24-year-old ran into his first trouble of the night in the fourth after a single and a walk, but escaped unharmed after a much more conventional 6-4-3 double play. In the fifth, the lefty had runners on the corners with two outs but retired his final batter to finish five scoreless innings on just 63 pitches (42 strikes). He lowered his ERA to 2.42.
-- Offensively, Semien had the big blow in the third inning, but New York banged out 10 hits with Ewing leading the charge from the top of the lineup and going 3-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and a stolen base. Fellow rookie Benge went 2-for-2 with two RBI, a run scored and a stolen base before exiting. Lindor also had a good night at the dish, knocking in a run with a single in the fourth, scoring a run and walking twice while adding his third stolen base of the year.
-- The Mets went 5-for-11 with RISP.
-- Out of the bullpen, Dedniel Nuñez struggled once again and allowed two earned runs on three hits. Meanwhile, Jefry Yan had a mixed bag outing in his second career appearance, but was able to end it on a high note by tagging the runner out at home after the ball got away from Luis Torrens.
-- Daniel Duarte then pitched a scoreless eighth as he continues to impress before Devin Williams pitched the ninth, where he allowed two earned runs on three hits and a walk.
Game MVP: A.J. Ewing
Semien may have had the big hit, but Ewing had his hand everywhere in this one and was the catalyst for the Mets' offense.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets continue their weekend series with the Pirates on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 6:40 p.m. on SNY.
RHP Robert Stock (0-1, 1.80 ERA) will take on RHP Bubba Chandler (4-8, 4.49 ERA).
