Before the 6th inning of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Diamondbacks, Amed Rosario had gone 200 at-bats without hitting a home run. By the end of the 7th inning, he had hit two on the last two pitches he saw.
Diamondbacks starter Clay Buchholz had held the Mets scoreless through five innings, limiting them to just one measly hit. He went out to start the 6th inning and was greeted by Rosario who took him deep to left-center field to tie the game at one apiece. The next inning, he crushed the next pitch he saw (this one from Jorge De La Rosa) for his second homer of the game. Both were solo shots, but both were huge.
“Those are the things that we were missing,” manager Mickey Callaway said of Rosario’s big hits. “Today’s game, for six or seven innings, looked like the games that we’ve been playing for the last six weeks… We just hadn’t been getting those timely hits that we need to win games. We’ve been getting those the last few days.”
Rosario’s home runs were instrumental in the Mets’ sweep of the Diamondbacks, their first sweep of three games or more at home since 2016.
“It’s amazing that we won all three,” Rosario said after the game. “This team has confidence.”
The 22-year-old Rosario has been heating up in the nine-hole, now slashing .248/.273/.368 with two home runs, eight doubles, one triple, and 12 RBIs on the season. He has stolen one base and been caught three times, something he will have to improve on as his speed is just too good to waste. He didn’t need to steal bases Sunday, however, as the Mets rode his two home runs to a sweep.
