While most kids were at school on Thursday afternoon, the Mets’ youngsters were having a great day on the job.
A.J. Ewing mashed his first career homer, Carson Benge collected another two hits, and Nolan McLean fired seven innings of three run ball as the Mets beat the Tigers 9-4 for their first sweep of the year. Brett Baty and Mark Vientos, who are basically veterans in comparison, both had clutch homers in the victory.
McLean fell behind early on a first inning two-run homer by Gage Workman, but only gave up one run the rest of the way to earn the win. On the day, McLean allowed six hits, three walks and struck out seven. His ERA now stands at 2.92 on the year after going seven innings for the second time this season.
Ewing’s solo homer in the third put the Mets on the board. An inning later, with the Mets down 3-1, Baty hit an opposite field two-run shot to tie the game.
A.J. Ewing by Berto Carlo
The Mets went ahead for good in the fifth. After Benge singled and stole second, Juan Soto singled to drive him home. Vientos then homered to put the Mets up 6-3.
New York hit five homers on the day, as Soto and Marcus Semien also went deep. They also showed off some small ball skills when Hayden Senger made a perfectly placed bunt to score Semien from third. They also struck out only twice. It’s only the fourth time in franchise history the Mets offense has homered five times and struck out only twice.
Carlos Mendoza praised the Mets resilience after the win:
“It felt like when we were going 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 the first inning, and you still feel good. It’s good to see the guys fight back.”
The Mets have won seven out of their last ten to improve to 18-25.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ewing hit his first career home run in a two-hit game. His OPS is 1.427 through three major league games.
NEXT UP
The Subway Series kicks off Friday night at Citi Field. Clay Holmes (4–3, 1.86 ERA) looks to continue his stellar start to the season against Yankees emerging ace righty Cam Schlittler (5–1, 1.35 ERA). Game time is 7:15 PM EDT and the game airs on Apple TV.
