WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Amid the hoopla of Sunday night’s eighth Little League Classic and the electricity surrounding Nolan McLean’s MLB debut the day before, reasons for positivity were starting to bubble in Mets world.
Perhaps Sunday’s 7-3 win over the Mariners, the Mets’ second straight after losing 14 of their last 16 entering Saturday, is a sign that things are turning around.
The Mets (66-58) put on a show for the Little Leaguers in attendance at Journey Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field, racking up 14 hits and putting up two crooked numbers with a four-run fifth and a three-run second. Clay Holmes delivered a strong five innings and earned his first win since July 25.
Francisco Lindor went 3-for-5 and Francisco Alvarez, who left the game after the seventh with a potential hand injury, went 3-for-4. Mark Vientos went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, including a three-run homer in the fifth that gave the Mets a 6-1 lead.
Snapping a streak of five straight series losses, the Mets — Sunday’s designated home team — secured their first series victory since a three-game sweep over San Francisco from July 25-27.
The Mets stayed within five games of the NL East-leading Phillies (71-53), who notched an 11-9 win over the Nationals on Sunday. They maintained a 1 1/2-game lead over the Reds (65-60), who snapped the Brewers’ 14-game winning streak with a 3-2 victory, for the NL’s third wild card.
Alvarez doubled to lead off the seventh, sliding into the bag head-first. Alvarez seemingly jammed his right hand on the base. He remained in the game to run the bases before Luis Torrens replaced him to start the eighth.
Alvarez missed the Mets’ first 25 games with a fractured hamate bone in his left hand. He missed 52 days with a left thumb sprain last year. Mendoza confirmed after the game that it is a thumb injury for Alvarez and he’s going back to New York for an MRI on Monday.
The festivities started at the Williamsport Regional Airport around 10:30 a.m., when the Mets were greeted by Little Leaguers as they got off the plane.
They rode buses to the Little League World Series complex with the players, taking in some LLWS action and the Williamsport aura. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza connected with the team representing Cardenales Little League from his hometown Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Mets and Mariners players alike slid down the hill at Howard J. Lamade Stadium, a LLWS tradition.
Following a 36-minute rain delay, the game got underway.
Holmes (10-6, 3.64 ERA), who has thrown a career-high 131 innings in his first season as a full-time starter, allowed one run and five hits, struck out four, walked one and hit a batsman (he drilled Randy Arozarena in the helmet on the game’s first pitch). He exited with the Mets holding a 7-1 lead.
Holmes said earlier this week that he is aware of his workload, but it is not at “the forefront of my attention.” Mendoza said Holmes would “keep getting opportunities” as a starter. After allowing five runs and five walks in 3 2/3 innings in his previous start Tuesday, Holmes showed encouraging signs Sunday.
Vientos’ homer, a 385-foot shot over the tall wall in rightfield, came with two outs in the fifth. Cedric Mullins doubled following Vientos’ blast, and Lindor’s double — a 377-footer that hit centerfielder Julio Rodriguez’s glove on a basket-catch attempt — drove Mullins home.
In the second inning, Alvarez drove in the game’s first run with a double to centerfield that was just out of the reach of a diving Rodriguez. Brett Baty’s run-scoring single and Vientos’ sacrifice fly to center added the next two runs.
The Mariners (68-57) cut it to 3-1 in the fourth on Jorge Polanco’s single to center — a 72.9-mph shot that a leaping Lindor whiffed on.
Both Holmes and Mariners righthander George Kirby (8-6, 4.22 ERA) loaded the bases with two outs in the fourth before retiring the next batter.
Cal Raleigh’s MLB-leading 47th homer, a two-run, opposite-field shot to leftfield off Reed Garrett, cut the Mariners’ deficit to 7-3 in the seventh.
Kirby had one of his worst starts of the season, allowing season-highs in runs (seven) and hits (12) in 4 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out four.
Ben Dickson joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.