Atlanta The stuff has returned.
It’s not that Mark Vientosever lost it, but at one point this season, the player the Mets call Swaggy V didn’t seem to have the same power as he did during his incredible 27-home run campaign the previous season. Even if the Mets did not sweep the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park on Sunday, Vientos’ third home run in just two games gives the team hope that his bat is fully recovered.
The left-handerGregory Soto (1-4) was unable to complete the eighth inning. He loaded the bases for Jurickson Profar with one on and two outs by plunking pinch-hitter Vidal Brujan and walking Sean Murphy. Profar scored two with a single up the middle. The Mets ended a six-game road trip with a 3-3 loss, falling to 4-3.
At the beginning of the inning, Ozzie Albiet struck Brett Baty at second base with a line drive, but the ball flew straight off his glove. The Mets suffered a bad break when it was ruled a base hit (69-61). Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil went down in order, but Juan Soto’s one-out RBI single off closer Raisel Iglesias pulled the Mets within one in the top of the ninth.
The Mets would have completed their first-ever sweep of the Braves at Truist Park if they had been able to rally. At Turner Field in April 2016, the Amazins last defeated the Braves in Atlanta.
With one on and no outs in the second inning, Vientos knocked right-hander Bryce Elder deep, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. In Saturday night’s 9-2 victory over the Mets, Vientos smashed two home runs, his third in as many at-bats. After the All-Star break, he has hit six of his 12 home runs this season. His hitting streak now stands at seven games after Sunday’s home run.
Vientos is 10-for-28 with five home runs, 11 RBI, two doubles, and two walks in those seven games.
And to consider that he was largely benched less than two weeks ago after losing favor in the infield rotation. Vientos, Baty, and Ronny Mauricio haven’t exactly had consistent playing time this season, but it’s clear that they are effective when given daily at-bats.
With Alonso, the normal first baseman, in the lineup as the DH and McNeil in left field, the Mets started all three players on Sunday afternoon: Mauricio at third, Baty at second, and Vientos at first base.
David Peterson allowed the tying runs in the sixth inning after shutting out Atlanta (59–71) in the first five. In the first two games of the series, Nolan McLean and Clay Holmes ended a 63-game skid by becoming the Mets’ first two starting pitchers, aside from Peterson, to throw 6.0 or more innings since early June. The Mets hoped that Peterson, who pitched 5 2/3 in his last out to begin the road trip in Washington, would be able to go deep enough to continue that streak.
Peterson’s command began to falter as Atlanta loaded the bases on him. He threw a cutter away on the third pitch after falling behind 0–2 against Murphy. Murphy scored two points by lining it to right field.
