In desperate need of someone to step up and carry their extremely shorthanded offense, Mark Vientos continues to be the man for the Mets.
Vientos has enjoyed a strong start to the road trip, and he delivered again on Friday.
The slugger opened the scoring in the ballgame, crushing a third pitch slider from Ryne Nelson 401 feet deep to left-center for his fifth home run of the season.
New York’s offense went silent after that, until Vientos was able to come through once again in the latter innings.
After Devin Williams pieced together a eight-pitch bottom of the ninth, Vientos immediately cashed in the ghost runner, ripping the first pitch he saw for a go-ahead double.
Carson Benge immediately followed that with a big insurance run, and then Tobias Myers put the finishing touches on the victory with a 1-2-3 bottom-half.
“It felt pretty good,” Vientos said postgame. “I felt like the at-bats I put together were pretty good, I’m just happy that I was able to come through in both of those spots.”
The righty slugger has finally started to look more like himself at the plate after a dreadful spring training and start to the regular season.
He’s now hitting .261 with three doubles, three homers, five runs scored, 10 RBI, a .333 on-base percentage, and a .855 OPS over his last 13 games.
“The more he gets the results, the more you’re going to see that,” Carlos Mendoza said. “When he gets going he gets locked in and mentally it helps him big-time — he’s a very good hitter and it’s good to see him getting results.”
“I feel good right now for sure,” Vientos added. “Just gotta keep stacking the days and continue to be consistent.”
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