Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke about different aspects of the team snapping their 12-game losing streak after their 3-2 win over the Twins
Juan Soto’s first game back
The Mets’ lineup got a massive boost on Wednesday. They activated Soto from the IL and inserted him in the two-hole as the DH.
He finished 1-for-3 with a walk, but the at-bats were Soto-like.
In his first AB, he launched a 96 mph fastball to deep center field. It sounded good off the bat — after replay, it seemed he got just under it — and went just 387 feet, but he was on top of the fastball. His second at-bat saw him hit a sharp liner to right field that went off his bat at 104.3 mph. Two at-bats, two loud outs. He’d take a walk on six pitches in the fifth inning, and then led off the eighth with a single.
“That ball, that first at-bat, was going to be gone. During the summer, I think that’s out of here,” Mendoza said of Soto’s at-bats. “The quality overall, he looked really good.”
Soto would get picked off at first in the eighth, but as the Mets skipper said, Soto didn’t look rusty at the plate.
Clay Holmes provides another quality start
Lost in the victory was how good Holmes was for the Mets.
The right-hander allowed just two runs across seven strong innings, giving his team a chance to win on Wednesday night.
“He was very good tonight,” Mendoza said.
“That sinker put them on the ground, kept getting ground balls. He was pitch efficient, you look up and he got strike one, kept attacking, gave us seven innings and a pretty solid outing by him.”
For the Mets, the win to snap the losing streak was important, even if Holmes got a no-decision. But the Mets starter is relieved, like the rest of the locker room, that they got over the hump.
“Winning’s fun,” Holmes said. “There was a tough stretch there. It’s a crazy thing. Things start spinning, and there’s a lot going on. Just to feel a win again and see everyone smiling. It’s a good feeling.
“It’s not easy losing games, especially when you get that type of starting pitching, which we had, but good teams find a way to win games like that,” Mendoza said. “I’m confident that we will start doing that here pretty soon, especially with the way our starters are continuing to throw the baseball.
But it was good to have that one today.”
In five starts this season, Holmes has not allowed more than two runs and has gone seven innings twice. His ERA now sits at 2.10.
Shortstop options without Francisco Lindor?
Aside from the win, the news from the game was that Lindor exited with calf tightness. Although Lindor will undergo an MRI on Thursday before a decision on his availability is made, it seems the Mets are preparing to lose their shortstop for some time.
Bo Bichette moved over to shortstop with Lindor out, and that’s the first-year Mets’ natural position. Mendoza was asked whether Bichette will be the shortstop without Lindor, and the Mets skipper wouldn’t commit to it, but it’s more probable that they’ll keep Bichette at third base and call someone up.
“We’ll see. Again, we gotta wait and see what we got with Lindor. If it’s an IL, we’ll make a move,” Mendoza explained. “Who that person will be? I have to talk to David [Stearns] to see what we got with Lindor, then we’ll go from there. I won’t hesitate if I need to play Bo there, but I think we’ll bring someone here that is capable of playing the position as well.”
Mendoza has experimented with different lineups in recent weeks and Wednesday saw Bichette hit leadoff. He was asked if we should expect a similar lineup — without Lindor, of course — Thursday and Mendoza said there are factors that determine it like the pitcher they are facing and the state of the opponent’s bullpen, but he’ll continue to experiment.
“I’m going to have to get creative,” he said. ”
I want consistency when everyone’s healthy. Right now, we can call it like that. I like Bo anywhere, and if I like Bo hitting there, I will.”
