ATLANTA — The swag is back.
Not that Mark Vientos ever lost it, but there was a time this season when the player the Mets call “Swaggy V” didn’t seem to possess the same power he did last season, when he hit 27 home runs in a breakout campaign. The Mets may not have completed a sweep of the Atlanta Braves on Sunday at Truist Park, but the third home run from Vientos in only two games has the Mets optimistic that his bat is fully back.
Left-hander Gregory Soto (1-4) couldn’t finish off the bottom of the eighth. With one on and two out, he walked Sean Murphy and plunked pinch-hitter Vidal Brujan to load the bases for Jurickson Profar. Profar sent a single up the middle to score two. The Mets lost 4-3, finishing a six-game road trip 3-3.
The inning started with Ozzie Albies hitting a line drive right to Brett Baty at second base, but the ball went right off his glove. Ruled a base hit, it was an unfortunate break for the Mets (69-61). Juan Soto’s one-out RBI single off closer Raisel Iglesias brought the Mets back to within one in the top of the ninth, but Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil went down in order.
Had they managed to come back, the Mets would have completed their first-ever sweep of the Braves at Truist Park. The last time the Amazins’ swept the Braves in Atlanta was at Turner Field in April 2016.
Vientos took right-hander Bryce Elder deep with one on and none out in the second inning, putting the Mets up 2-0. His third home run in as many at-bats, Vientos hit two Saturday night in the Mets’ 9-2 win. Six of his 12 home runs this season have come after the All-Star break. Sunday’s homer extended his hitting streak to seven games.
Over those seven games, Vientos has gone 10-for-28, with five home runs, 11 RBI, two doubles and two walks.
And to think, less than two weeks ago, he was spending most of the time on the bench, having fallen out of favor in the infield rotation. Playing time hasn’t exactly been consistent this season for Vientos, Baty or Ronny Mauricio, but it’s evident that when given daily at-bats, the trio are productive.
Sunday afternoon, the Mets had all three in the lineup, playing Mauricio at third, Baty at second and Vientos at first base, with Alonso, the regular first baseman in the lineup as the DH, and McNeil in left field.
David Peterson shut out Atlanta (59-71) over the first five innings before giving up the tying runs in the sixth. Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes became the Mets’ first two starting pitchers other than Peterson to throw 6.0 or more innings since early June in the first two games of the series, snapping a streak of 63 games. The Mets were hopeful Peterson, who went 8.0 his last time out to start the road trip in Washington, would be able to go deep enough to keep that run going and he nearly did, pitching 5 2/3.
Atlanta loaded the bases on Peterson, whose command started to waver. He fell behind 0-2 on Murphy, and threw a cutter away on the third pitch. Murphy lined it to right field to score two.
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