The Mets waited most of the afternoon to start their offensive engine, but once it revved, their chances of leaving Oracle Park with anything short of a series victory dissipated.
One at-bat after another in the eighth inning they persisted, placing pitches in all corners of the field until four runs had scored, to help secure a 5-2 victory over the Giants.
The Mets won their third straight to complete a 4-3 road trip.
Luis Torrens’ pinch-hit double brought in the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth before the Mets added runs.
That meant Mark Vientos and Marcus Semien each with a run-scoring hit, allowing a cushion for Luke Weaver and Devin Williams, who pitched the final two scoreless innings.
Jared Young, who had already delivered three hits in the game, wasn’t permitted to face lefty reliever Erik Miller in the seventh with runners on second and third with one out.
Enter Torrens, who worked the at-bat to eight pitches before slicing a changeup just inside the right field line, scoring both runners.
Torrens scored when Matt Chapman threw away Vientos’ grounder. The go-ahead rally was complete on Semien’s RBI double. Others involved included Jorge Polanco and Luis Robert Jr., whose double and single, respectively, ignited the comeback.
In a second straight solid outing to begin his season, Kodai Senga allowed two earned runs on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks over 5 ²/₃ innings.
The right-hander took a shutout into the sixth but was undermined by two bloop hits sandwiched around Chapman’s game-tying double. Huascar Brazobán gave the Mets 1 ¹/₃ scoreless innings in relief before Weaver and Williams handled the rest.
Vientos’ sizzling stretch continued with an RBI single in the second that gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Vientos, who reached base a combined seven times in the previous two games, began the day batting .471.
Robert and Young singled in succession before Vientos delivered against Logan Webb for a third straight hit to begin the inning. But Semien’s ensuing double-play grounder thwarted any dreams of a big inning.
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Senga struck out six of eight batters to begin his afternoon, utilizing the forkball as his weapon of choice.
Luis Arraez’s 10-pitch at-bat culminated with a leadoff single in the fourth, but Senga rebounded by getting Chapman to ground into a double play. After Rafael Devers walked, Senga escaped the inning by getting Heliot Ramos to hit into a fielder’s choice.
Jerar Encarnacion smoked a shot off the left field fence in the fifth, but Young fielded the carom cleanly and threw a strike to Semien, nailing Encarnacion as he attempted to stretch the single into a double.
Chapman jumped on an 0-1 forkball in the sixth and smashed an RBI double that tied it 1-1. Patrick Bailey singled leading off the inning and stole second before Chapman, with one out, delivered. Devers’ ensuing bloop single — just in front of lunging Robert — gave the Giants a 2-1 lead and ended Senga’s afternoon.
Young doubled leading off the seventh for his third hit of the game and reached third on Vientos’ fly out. But Semien struck out, following a disputed check swing that drew manager Carlos Mendoza’s ire toward plate umpire Edwin Jimenez, and after Carson Benge walked on four pitches and stole second, Francisco Alvarez reached first on a catcher’s interference. Lindor, with the bases loaded, grounded weakly to second for the final out.
The Mets wasted a go-ahead opportunity in the seventh when Francisco Lindor was retired for the final out with the bases loaded on Webb’s final pitch of the game.
