Mar 26, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) speaks at a press conference before his team’s opening day game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
QUEENS, NY — Nearly everything Mets manager Carlos Mendoza has touched when it comes to late-game pinch-hitting scenarios has been turning to gold lately.
Down 3-2 on Tuesday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, he took the bat out of the red-hot Mark Vientos’ hands — he was 7-for-his-last-15 up to that point — for lefty Jared Young to face right-handed reliever Jonathan Loaisiga.
It was predicated on “the game basically telling you to trust your guts there.”
Left-handers Jorge Polanco and Brett Baty singled to put the tying run within 90 feet of home.
“[Vientos] going to get a lot of righties, and it wasn’t easy, but as I’m preparing for the game, I target a couple of guys that are going to be tough right on right,” Mendoza began when rationalizing his decision. “And Loaisiga, I’m pretty familiar with him. Then you watch the inning unfold. Polanco is a lefty; he gets him… Then Baty gets a hit. The game is basically telling you to trust your guts there.
“As hard as it is to take the bat away from Mark, it’s first and third, double play in play, Loaisiga is a big-time groundball pitcher, and you got a pretty good left-handed batter off the bench. I felt like I needed to do it.”
It was the right call. Young scorched a high drive 106 mph off the bat deep to right field, which, on a normal night without heavy winds blowing in from left, would have left the ballpark. It was caught on the track, but more than deep enough to score Baty and tie things up and force extra innings.
In the bottom of the 10th, he pinch-hit switch-hitter Ronny Mauricio, who had been called up just one day earlier after Juan Soto was placed on the 10-day IL, for Tyrone Taylor against Diamondbacks righty closer Paul Sewald.
After falling 0-2, Sewald grooved a fastball middle-middle, and Mauricio lasered a 107.1 mph single to the warning track in right to score ghost runner Francisco Lindor from second to win their fourth straight game.
“We had him ready since the seventh inning,” Mendoza said of Mauricio. “They have all righties in their bullpen, but a couple of them in particular are very tough right on right, so we knew right away that we needed to have those guys ready. And he was ready to go. I’m proud of him.”
Apr 7, 2026; New York City, New York, USA; New York Mets pinch hitter Ronny Mauricio (0) celebrates after hitting an RBI walk-off single during the tenth inning against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Mendoza also struck gold in Sunday’s series finale in San Francisco against the Giants when he pinch-hit Luis Torrens for Young in the eighth inning with the Mets trailng 2-1. The backup catcher poked a go-ahead, two-run double down the right-field line to put the Mets ahead for good in a 5-2 win.
“Credit to the players and to the coaches,” Mendoza said. “The preparation level, just understanding potential matchups, potential situations, and then going out there and executing the plan, trusting it. But it starts with the players, and then the whole group from the hitting department.”
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