These are mostly fun times for the Mets lineup.<\/p>\n
Yes, there have been occasional games in the past 2 \u00bd weeks in which the unit has stalled and frustration ensued. <\/p>\n
But the team\u2019s success at the plate is starting to outweigh such lapses.<\/p>\n
Monday night, with the NL East\u2019s top dog in the house, the bottom of the batting order took charge and led a 13-3 smackdown of the Phillies at Citi Field.<\/p>\n
It was a third victory in four games for the Mets, who still trail the Phillies by six games. <\/p>\n
The Reds, who began the night behind the Mets by 1 \u00bd games for the NL\u2019s third and final wild card, played a later game against the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
Luis Torrens homers during the Mets\u2019 Aug. 25 win over the Phillies. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
After scoring 21 runs combined in their two victories in Atlanta over the weekend, the Mets again busted out. <\/p>\n
This time they scored 13 unanswered runs.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re doing what we expect ourselves to do,\u201d Mark Vientos said. \u201cOne through nine we\u2019re a great lineup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Luis Torrens, the No. 9 hitter in the order, delivered the dagger with a three-run homer in the seventh after earlier contributing an RBI double. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
He also drove in another run later with a single to finish with a career-high five RBIs. <\/p>\n
Jeff McNeil, batting eighth, was 2-for-4 with three RBIs. <\/p>\n
And from the No. 7 hole, light-hitting Tyrone Taylor was 3-for-4 with an RBI.<\/p>\n
All told that was an 8-for-13 night with nine RBIs for the bottom three hitters in the order.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey needed that,\u201d manager Carlos Mendoza said. \u201c[Taylor] has been a lot better the last couple of days, but for [Torrens] \u2026 for both of them, it\u2019s been a grind. It\u2019s been a struggle. But we know they are good players. When you get your bottom of the lineup doing things like that, it makes for a tough, pretty good offense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starling Marte hits a single during the Mets\u2019 Aug. 25 win over the Phillies. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
Further up in the lineup, Vientos continued his sizzling play with two doubles and two RBIs, including the go-ahead hit in the fifth inning after the Mets had fallen into a 3-0 hole early.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was glad I was up to bat in those situations,\u201d Vientos said.<\/p>\n
Kodai Senga, pitching on normal rest for the fourth time in his career \u2014 the Mets have regularly allowed him to pitch every sixth or seventh day instead of on the fifth \u2014 slogged through four innings. <\/p>\n
Overall, he surrendered three earned runs on six hits with three walks and four strikeouts over 93 pitches.<\/p>\n
Mark Vientos celebrates after hitting a double during the Mets\u2019 Aug. 25 win. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
He departed in the fifth after drilling J.T. Realmuto to start the inning.<\/p>\n
On regular rest during his career, he\u2019s pitched to a 5.09 ERA. <\/p>\n
In all other instances, Senga has pitched to a 2.74 ERA.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a struggle for Senga since he returned from the injured list on July 11. <\/p>\n
He was asked his confidence level that he can revert to previous form before this season concludes.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not so much a level of confidence, it\u2019s something I have to do,\u201d Senga said through his interpreter. \u201cIf I am not able to do that, I am going to pull the team down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senga surrendered a triple to Trea Turner leading off the game and watched the Phillies go ahead 1-0 on Kyle Schwarber\u2019s RBI groundout.<\/p>\n
Alec Bohm stroked a two-run single in the third that increased the Mets deficit to 3-0. <\/p>\n
Schwarber walked to begin the rally and Bryce Harper singled, advancing to second as Juan Soto unsuccessfully attempted to throw out the lead runner at third. <\/p>\n
Luis Torrens rounds the bases after hitting a home run Aug. 25. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
After Bohm delivered, Brandon Marsh doubled before Senga escaped the second-and-third jam by retiring Max Kepler.<\/p>\n
The Mets tied it against Cristopher S\u00e1nchez with three runs in the fourth. <\/p>\n
Vientos, who entered with five homers in seven games, hit an RBI double before Brandon Nimmo\u2019s single pulled the Mets to within a run. <\/p>\n
Taylor walked to extend the inning before McNeil\u2019s RBI single tied it 3-3.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDelivering insights on all things Amazin\u2019s\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Vientos slashed a go-ahead RBI double in the fifth after the Phillies failed to execute a pickoff play. <\/p>\n
Soto, in an attempted steal, was safe at second on the play after Bryson Stott dropped the throw while attempting a swipe tag. <\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez had stepped off and thrown to first base, where Harper received the throw before firing to second.<\/p>\n
Kodai Senga throws a pitch during his start for the Mets on Aug. 25. Charles Wenzelberg<\/p>\n
After Taylor stroked a leadoff double in the sixth, Torrens doubled to right-center, giving the Mets a 5-3 lead. <\/p>\n
S\u00e1nchez was removed at that point. <\/p>\n
David Robertson surrendered an RBI single to Starling Marte after walking Soto with two outs.<\/p>\n
With Torrens\u2019 three-run blast in the seventh, the rout was on for the Mets, who finished 11-for-19 with runners in scoring position. <\/p>\n
It was the team\u2019s highest hit total in that category since 2017. <\/p>\n
The Mets overall lead the NL this month with a .351 batting average with runners in scoring position.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s been the biggest key,\u201d Mendoza said, referring to the team\u2019s surge offensively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"These are mostly fun times for the Mets lineup. Yes, there have been occasional games in the past…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":177268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[53420,1266,1305,2083,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-177267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-luis-torrens","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-new-york-mets","11":"tag-philadelphia-phillies","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115095609304655716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}