It’s been a disappointing start to the year for Mark Vientos.
The youngster was one of the most productive bats in the Mets’ lineup last postseason, but he hasn’t quite been able to carry that success over to this year thus far.
Vientos has been putting together better at-bats over the past couple of days, and he had a big opportunity to come through early in Friday’s contest.
After Royals right-hander Michael Wacha walked Pete Alonso to force in the first run of the game in the top of the third, the youngster stepped to the plate with a chance to do even more damage.
However, Wacha quickly set the slugger aside on three pitches to escape the inning, and his frustration got the best of him as he snapped his bat in half over home plate before walking back to the dugout.
Luckily for Vientos, he had a chance to make up for it later on.
After the Royals jumped in front of the first time, the 25-year-old stepped to the plate with the bases loaded again and one out, this time facing All-Star closer Carlos Estévez who he saw last postseason with the Phillies.
Vientos found himself in a 2-2 count, and on the third consecutive slider throw to him, he laced one 107.7 mph into the left-center gap to bring in all three runs and put the Mets back in front for good.
“I was just trying to stay simple with one out and the bases loaded,” he said. “I was trying to hit then all hard the other way and just bring one run in and luckily I found the gap — it was good to redeem myself and be able to do my job for the team.”
The Mets followed that up with a four-run ninth inning with back-to-back homers from Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto, but most encouraging in that frame — another Vientos opposite-field single.
After also reaching twice during Game 1 in Baltimore, he's now put together back-to-back multi-hit showings.
With things finally starting to fall for him, both Vientos and Carlos Mendoza are excited for what's to come over the second-half of the season.
“He’s a really good hitter man,” the skipper said. “It’s taken a little bit longer than he wanted and than we’ve wanted, but he’s been hitting the ball hard and a lot of it’s been on the ground — for him to come through against a good arm in Estévez, it was huge for us and him there.
“Like I said, he’s a really good hitter and we’re gonna need him down the stretch.”
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