Mark Vientos continued his recent resurgence by hitting a tiebreaking RBI double with one out in the fifth inning as the host New York Mets inched closer to first place in the National League East with a 13-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.
Vientos helped the Mets win for the sixth time in nine games following a 1-10 skid from Aug. 3-15. The Mets moved back within six of the division-leading Phillies thanks to in part Vientos, who is 12-for-31 (.387) in his past eight games.
Vientos keyed a three-run rally in the fourth with a double off Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez (11-5) that scored Pete Alonso to help erase a three-run deficit. He reached base three times and was lifted in the seventh after getting hit by a pitch in the back by Jordan Romano.
An inning later, with the game tied at 3-3 and New York sporting runners at first and second following walks by Starling Marte and Juan Soto, Vientos snapped the tie by lacing a 2-1 changeup down the right field line to score Soto.
Luis Torrens helped the Mets surge further ahead in the seventh with a three-run homer off Romano that gave them a 10-3 lead. Torrens also had an RBI double in the sixth that knocked out Sanchez and a run-scoring single in the eighth as part of his second career five-RBI showing.
He also drove in five on Aug. 14, 2021, for the Seattle Mariners.
Jeff McNeil drove in three runs with a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly as the Mets collected 14 hits and were 11-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
Tyrone Taylor added three hits in the win.
Trea Turner opened the game with a triple and scored on a grounder by Kyle Schwarber. Alec Bohm also had a two-run single in the third but grounded into a double play in the fifth against Jose Castillo, who had just come on for starter Kodai Senga with one on and none out.
After the double-play grounder, Bohm complained to umpires about the glare from a parabolic television microphone in center field and the device was removed after a brief delay. Castillo (1-2) then retired Brandon Marsh after the delay before the Mets went ahead.
After Senga allowed three runs on six hits in four-plus innings, five relievers combined to hurl five scoreless innings.
Sanchez allowed a season-worst six runs (five earned) and tied a season high by permitting eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out four and walked three in his shortest outing since May 24.
–Field Level Media
