Bit by IBB, Vientos’ slam helps Mets tie

LOS ANGELES — If you think about it, it made sense to walk on purpose. There were two runners in a one-run game. First base was open with two outs. francisco lindorA potential MVP who had already homered was up to bat. and yet mark windswhich will provide the Grand Slam which sets the tone New York Mets, win 7-3 Above los angeles dodgers “He took it personally,” he said Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

If you ask Vientos’s colleagues, that reaction was also justified.

“My man has a lot of confidence in himself,” she said shaun maneaThe Mets’ winning pitcher. “I like that.”

Vientos’ Grand Slam ends landon neckWho was expected to do most of the work in what qualifies as a bullpen game for the Dodgers, he struck out five in the second inning to help the Mets split the first two games out of Dodger Stadium, heading into the evening with the NLCS in a best-of-seven match. Three games on tap from New York’s Citi Field.

It was also a continuation of a miraculous performance for Vientos – from an .820 OPS over the last four months of the regular season to a game-winning hit in the postseason opener, a game-tying single in Game 2 of the NL Division Series and, now, giving the Mets a The game was in desperate need of a big home run.

At the age of 24 years and 308 days, Vientos became the youngest player to win a Grand Slam in the history of the tournament, only 49 days younger than him. rafael devers In 2021. Vientos’ 11 RBIs through a player’s first nine games are tied for the most in Mets postseason history, along with John Olerud in 1999, Carlos Delgado in 2006, and Daniel Murphy in 2015. All told, Vientos is slashing .378/. .410/.676 with three home runs and 11 RBI in October.

And yet that may be the most impressive thing about him: An unknown player who didn’t have a job at the start of this season was insulted that an opposing team would take one of the game’s best players ahead of him.

“He’s the one,” Lindor said of Vientos. “I’m glad he took it personally. He needs to keep climbing.”

The Dodgers’ pitching staff entered Monday’s game with 33 consecutive scoreless innings, tying in 1966. baltimore orioles The most in postseason history. Lindor ends it with an eight-pitch at-bat against the opener Ryan Brasier And finishing it off with a leadoff homer. The Mets continued to apply pressure in the next inning. starling marte Started with single, jesse winker took a walk and Tyrone Taylor Two batters later he came up with an RBI double, putting runners on second and third and setting up Lindor’s intentional walk.

Vientos felt ready.

“I want to be there during that at-bat,” he said. “I want them to walk Lindor in that situation, put me in there. And at that point I was just saying, ‘Let me make the game simple, just score a run, take a walk – whatever I can do to add another run. I can do that for the score. And luckily the bomb fell on me.”

Vientos is navigating through his first postseason, but his ability to simplify at-bats — slowing down his thoughts, staying calm, keeping his body under control — stands out to those who have watched him closely. Those traits were visible again in his confrontation with Knack. Vientos took the first pitch ball, then fouled out on back-to-back sliders. Knack used those pitches to set up a high fastball to try for a strikeout, but Vientos fouled the pitch back. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza later said he took two sliders down and away “with ease.”

When he got another fastball – a pitch Vientos expected but didn’t expect – it went right down the middle. Instead of trying to pull the pitch aggressively, Vientos found it deep in the zone and threw it to the opposite field, a 102 mph line drive that hit the wall in right-center. Vientos went deep on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, the most number of pitches seen before a grand slam in the last 50 postseasons, according to ESPN Research.

“You didn’t see any big changes,” Mendoza said. “It was, ‘Let me play it. Let me be in a bigger part of the ballpark.’ And he was able to drive him the next at-bat, easily going the other direction and shooting the ball the other way, that’s not only a sign of a good hitter, “But it doesn’t matter that the player is also mature and in control.”

You can say the same thing about the 2024 Mets, who have won all three of their postseason losses by multiple runs.

Mania, who changed his career by dropping his arm slot and pitching to his body, held the Dodgers to only one max munsey Maintained a big early lead by hitting home runs in the first six innings. The Mets almost wobbled it away in the seventh inning. jose iglesias And pete alonso playing a groundball the wrong way, but phil matton got red-hot kike hernandez Jumping into a double play in the bottom of the inning to preserve the three-run lead. raine stanek then followed Edwin Diaz Came up with a four-out save.

The Mets will now have three consecutive games at Citi Field.

In other words, they have a chance to pull off one of the most improbable World Series sweeps in recent memory on home soil.

“Playing in front of New York fans is the best,” Vientos said. “I’m excited to be back.”