Mark Vientos Powers Mets over Dodgers, Even Up NLCS
The New York Mets evened up the National League Championship Series with a resounding 7-3 victory on Monday afternoon, as Mark Vientos proved to be the star of the show thanks to his grand slam home run.
Vientos launched the homer in the second inning as the Mets jumped out to an early 6-0 lead, one night after getting plastered by the Dodgers in Game 1.
The 24-year old infielder has been terrific in the postseason, batting .378 with three homers and 11 RBI. More importantly Vientos has been clutch in big spots.
Meanwhile, the Mets didn’t make things easy on themselves the rest of the night. After a strong start, Sean Manaea left in the sixth inning as the Dodgers rallied to plate a pair of runs to cut the Met lead in half at 6-3.
Still give the Mets bullpen a ton of credit. Phil Maton, Ryan Staneck and Edwin Diaz all worked out of trouble on Monday. Diaz bailed out Staneck in the eighth when he got Kike Hernandez to fly out to right with a pair of runners aboard.
Then in the ninth inning, after surrendering a lead-off walk to Shoehi Ohtani, Diaz struck out the next three batters to face him, including Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman to end it.
The NLCS shifts back to New York for three games beginning on Wednesday night in Game 3. The Mets will likely start Luis Severino in the contest against LA’s Walker Buehler. First pitch Wednesday is at 8:08 p.m.
NOTES:
Francisco Lindor’s lead-off homer gave the Mets a much needed boost following the Game One defeat on Sunday. Lindor has two homers this postseason, the other being the grand slam vs. Philadelphia. Starling Marte drove in the final run of the day on a sharp single to center, scoring Pete Alonso in the top of the ninth inning.
