NEW YORK \u2014 \u201cSometimes,\u201d Juan Soto said Tuesday night, \u201cyou need a lucky rock in the middle of the field to get you going.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a stifling weekend, after weeks of slumping, after a month of disappointment, the Mets on Tuesday night enjoyed something they hadn\u2019t in ages: an easy win. Propelled by a good break in a seven-run fourth inning, New York cruised past the Nationals, 8-0, at Citi Field.<\/p>\n
The Mets hadn\u2019t won a game by more than three runs since April 4 in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
Of course, they\u2019d won only four games in that span before Tuesday. The pregame questions for Carlos Mendoza focused on two topics every manager loves: injuries and his own job status.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s the lumbar inflammation sending Kodai Senga to the IL and the back tightness that had Luis Robert Jr. out of the lineup. There\u2019s Jorge Polanco running, but not at full speed, and an MRI on Soto that came back structurally sound.<\/p>\n
Mendoza answered question after question about himself, as well \u2014 whether his interactions with owner Steve Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns were any different than usual, what he and his coaches can do to help end this funk, what it\u2019s been like to watch two other teams fire managers with outstanding track records for starts no worse than his team\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the reality,\u201d he said about that last one. \u201cIt sucks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, for the first time in weeks, the game proved to be a positive outlet. The Nationals came into Citi Field toting an impressive offense but a vulnerable pitching staff. If the Mets couldn\u2019t find their offensive rhythm in this series, it might indeed be hopeless.<\/p>\n
Bo Bichette raked Zack Littell\u2019s first pitch over the fence in right-center for a quick 1-0 lead. In the fourth, the Mets scored a touchdown and an extra point \u2014 a seven-run frame that was their largest of the season.<\/p>\n
It started with a single up the middle from MJ Melendez, whose position in the cleanup hole on Tuesday reveals a lot about how astray the Mets have gone from their preseason offensive plans. Consecutive walks for Mark Vientos and Brett Baty \u2014 Baty\u2019s drawn five free passes in his last 27 plate appearances after going without a walk in his first 65 trips to the plate \u2014 loaded the bases with one out.<\/p>\n
Then, the Mets found their lucky rock.<\/p>\n
Third baseman Jorbit Vivas rushed while trying to turn Marcus Semien\u2019s chopper into a double play, instead allowing the ball to scoot past his glove and into left field for a two-base, two-run error.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all felt it there: This is the break we\u2019re looking for,\u201d Mendoza said postgame. \u201cAnd to be able to cash in is the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carson Benge made Washington pay a pitch later with a solid single to left to score two more. Benge had his third two-hit game in the last five; he\u2019s 7-for-16 in that stretch to lift his batting average closer to .200. Soto capped the frame with an opposite-field two-run homer, his second of the season and first since returning from the injured list.<\/p>\n
The Mets had played 259 innings this season entering Tuesday and had led by more than three runs for 21 of them \u2014 and only six in the last 173 frames. This night, they could exhale.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt loosened it up a little bit,\u201d Mendoza said, even cracking a smile postgame. \u201cIt was good to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one game, of course. The Mets thought they\u2019d turned a corner last week before losing a disconcerting home sweep to the Rockies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to take showing up daily and doing what we can to get a little better. It\u2019s not one day, good or bad, that\u2019s going to change much,\u201d said Holmes, who lowered his ERA to 1.75 with six shutout innings.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s nice to see that tonight. Do it again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK \u2014 \u201cSometimes,\u201d Juan Soto said Tuesday night, \u201cyou need a lucky rock in the middle of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613523,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,1189,99],"class_list":["post-613522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-new-york-mets","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}