ATLANTA — With their season on the brink of disaster, the Mets stormed Atlanta and reclaimed a touch of their mojo, taking two of three before returning back home Monday to face the first-place Phillies
Here are three takeaways from the series:
1. The hits are finally coming.
The Mets offense broke out in a big way in their first two games against Atlanta, scoring 21 runs with 32 hits.
Though they weren’t able to keep it rolling Sunday, they’re (finally) hitting with runners in scoring position. The Mets were among one of the worst teams in baseball with RISP — in fact, going into Sunday, they were still a very mediocre 22nd — but that’s changed of late. Through the first 20 games in August, they’re batting .337 with RISP, which is tops in the National League in that span.
“I feel like we’re doing a way better job with runners in scoring position,” Carlos Mendoza said Saturday. “We’re putting the ball in play, using the whole field, picking each other up and then continuing to add on.”
Francisco Lindor is riding a 12-game hitting streak and Mark Vientos extended his hit streak to seven games Sunday (he also homered in three straight at-bats dating to Saturday).
2. The kid’s (more than) all right.
Nolan McLean was again impressive in just his second major-league start, allowing two runs and four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts over seven innings Friday. The start was notable for a few reasons: McLean grew up in North Carolina, rooting for Atlanta, and once again seemed immune to the pressure. Also, the Mets hadn’t had a starter other than David Peterson complete six innings since June 7. It seemed to be contagious, too, since Clay Holmes tossed 6 1/3 Saturday in the second-longest start of his career. It pumped up the offense, too: The Mets had 12 runs and 21 hits Friday.
“It’s electric,” Brett Baty said. “His mentality out there is really, really awesome — just attacking hitters and getting quick outs … When our pitcher is going out there and getting quick outs and doing what he did [Friday], I think it helps our offense, too; [it’s] less time on defense, more time in the dugout.”
3. The bullpen is still shaky.
Despite a trade deadline spent fortifying the unit, it remains porous. Staked to a 10-run lead Friday, Reed Garrett and Ryan Helsley allowed five runs over the final two innings. Gregory Soto labored Sunday, giving up two go-ahead, eighth-inning runs in Atlanta’s 4-3 win. The Mets relievers now have a 3.97 ERA after spending the first month-plus of the season as the best in baseball.
“I’m not going to say that I’m concerned but we’ve got to help him because he’s not getting swings and misses,” Mendoza said of Helsley, the former Cardinals closer who has a 9.82 ERA in nine appearances since joining the Mets. “He’s not getting chases, so we’ve got to go back and see how we can continue to help him, because he’s elite. And obviously, [that was] another tough inning where hitters are just basically taking the breaking balls and they’re right on the fastball.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.