NEW YORK — These are the special stretches in special seasons when a baseball game feels predetermined, when it feels less like something about to happen than something waiting to be revealed. Inevitable, in other words, as the New York Mets felt for the better part of a week.
Mark Vientos was New York’s hero in his eighth straight win on Friday night, a 6-4 win in 10 innings over the Cincinnati Reds. Vientos’ two-run home run off Justin Wilson walked it away in the 10th; it was a fitting bookend given his two-run home run opened the scoring in the first.
“He was everything and more,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “It’s really cool and special to see someone who has been through a lot early in the year and going through it day in and day out and helping us win games. He just keeps getting better.”
Twice, Cincinnati tied the score with two-run home runs. But the Reds, like the Boston Red Sox before them and like the Chicago White Sox for all but one inning before them, couldn’t take the lead against New York. The Mets haven’t trailed at the end of a full inning since the first inning of that series in Chicago, seven days and 63 frames ago. They have trailed at the end of 19 of their last 136 innings dating back to August 21st.
“We were confident we were going to win that game,” Vientos said. “If it wasn’t me, it would be Pete (Alonso) or someone behind him.”
what A. Finish. ⚡️@MarkVientos_5 | #LGM pic.twitter.com/SxsHsddIf0
– New York Mets (@Mets) 7 September 2024
“Everybody does their thing,” said starter Sean Manaea, whose string of quality starts was snapped by that second Cincinnati two-run homer in the seventh inning. “It’s just a recipe for success.”
Vientos has become as integral an ingredient as any to New York. Sent out at the end of spring training when the Mets signed JD Martinez, he grabbed the everyday job at the hot corner from Brett Baty in May. Since then, he’s been out of third base luminaries like Rafael Devers, Alex Bregman and Manny Machado. Only José Ramírez has done more with the bat at the position.
“He was incredible,” Manaea said. “He just consistently puts together good at-bats and plays great defense.”
Indeed, what may have been most impressive about Vientos’ 2024 season was that consistency. He traded the traditional peaks and valleys of inexperience for a static stacking of good play upon good play, with no slump to interrupt it. His longest hitting streak of the season is 11 innings.
He was put in position to come through in the 10th with another scoreless night for the New York bullpen. Reed Garrett, Edwin Díaz and Jose Buttó combined for 3 1/3 perfect innings. During the Mets’ eight-game hitting streak, the bullpen pitched 25 innings and allowed two runs; that’s 0.72 ERA. Opposing hitters were almost twice as likely to strike out (29 times in that stretch) as to get on base (16).
This revival was led by Díaz. Since blowing back-to-back games to the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks on the last road trip, the closer has looked better than at any point this season. His fastball velocity is back above 98 average, and he’s struck out 12 of the 16 men he’s faced in four straight innings since that loss in the desert.
“My level is rising now,” he said. “I built my confidence.”
So have the Mets. They are now 20-8 when Manaea takes the mound; he is just the third pitcher in the majors to start 20 wins for his team this season. They own the best record in the majors over the last three months. They remain tied with Atlanta for the final wild card, but they pulled back within 1 1/2 games of Arizona for the next spot.
It all seems a bit like late-summer magic, the kind that sprung up in Queens during the franchise’s most memorable seasons.
“I don’t know if I believe in magic,” Vientos said, “but we have the energy and the right mindset this month because we’re hungry.
“September is the right time to warm up.”
(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
