The Mets‘ lineup could be peaking at the right time.
They mashed their way to a 12-5 win over the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday night at Comerica Park. Scoring 22 runs in the first two games of a three-game set against the top team in the American League helped them take the series.
A hot offense that helped the Mets overcome rocky pitching to stay in the playoff standings last month has continued into September. Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Luis Torrens each hit homers, with Alonso hitting a pair of them, while Jeff McNeil and Brett Baty each had three-hit nights.
Rookie right-hander Nolan McLean won his fourth straight decision in only his fourth major league game, becoming the first rookie since Chase Anderson in 2014 to start 4-for-4. It was yet another stellar performance, limiting a potent offense to two earned runs over six innings, working out of early trouble.
His last time out, McLean looked like a veteran Cy Young contender, carving up the Philadelphia Phillies with relative ease. However, this time, he didn’t have his best stuff early in his outing.
The Tigers scored twice with two outs in the first inning, with McLean walking the Nos. 3-4 hitters to extend the inning. McLean fell behind on Spencer Torkelson before giving up a single on a sinker. Wenceel Perez took the second pitch he saw to right field for another RBI single. But a good throw home by right fielder Soto allowed Torrens to throw to second to get Perez, who was trying to take an extra base.
It ended the inning, and the scoring for the Tigers, at least while McLean was on the mound. Right-hander Kevin Herget couldn’t get a three-inning save, running out of gas in the bottom of the ninth. Detroit scored three, but with a 10-run lead to start the inning, the Mets had plenty of cushion.
McLean wasn’t able to do what he wanted with his breaking pitches in the first inning, and put the first two hitters on in the second. But then he found what he needed, retiring the next 14 straight to complete his outing. He walked three and struck out seven.
Alonso hit his first shot of the night in the first inning off right-hander Sawyer Gipson-Long. Down 2-1 in the fourth, the Mets loaded the bases on Gipson-Long. A single by McNeil tied the game, and Cedric Mullins put the Mets ahead for good with a sacrifice fly to score Brandon Nimmo. With runners on the corners, Torrens, at his best when he hits to the opposite field, got ahold of a fastball and banked it off the right field foul pole for a three-run shot.
The Mets went up 5-2 with Torrens’s fifth homer of the season and never looked back. The Tigers (80-60) had to go to the bullpen early for the second day in a row, replacing Gipson-Long (0-2) in the fifth.
Soto and Alonso went back-to-back with their 37th and 33rd homers of the season in the top of the seventh off right-hander Chris Paddack, a former nemesis of sorts from Alonso’s rookie season. The Mets poured it on, scoring six runs in the inning.
They ran all over the Tigers, swiping four bags, with Torrens even joining in the action. They frustrated a team that hasn’t done a lot of losing this season. With one more game in Detroit before a crucial stretch against the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies, the Mets might have gained some much-needed momentum.
The Phillies are 5.5 games ahead of the Mets in the NL East, and the Mets are 4.5 games ahead of the Reds in the Wild Card standings.
