Brett Baty drives in three to lift Mets to 5-1 win over Red Sox

Brett Baty drove in three runs and Francisco Lindor homered to help the Mets beat the Red Sox, 5-1, on Wednesday night in Boston to salvage a game in the series.

The win snapped the team’s season-long three-game losing streak.

Here are the takeaways…

-Runners in scoring position have been a bugaboo for the Mets of late. Entering Wednesday, the Mets were 9-for-54 (.167) with RISP over their last seven games.Lindor gave his team an instant RISP chance with a leadoff double but Starling Marte (flyout), and Juan Soto and Pete Alonso (strikeouts) left him stranding.

The Mets had another chance in the second after Mark Vientos walked and Luis Torrens doubled to start the inning. Again, the Mets had a tough time with runners on base. Tyrone Taylor popped out on the first pitch he saw and Luisangel Acuña grounded to third on the first pitch to leave Vientos and Torrens stranded. But it was Baty — who had just seven at-bats against lefties this season — who lined a single to right field to score Vientos, but Torrens was gunned out at home by centerfielder Ceddane Rafaela on the send from third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.

-The big inning for the Mets’ offense came in the seventh against reliever Liam Hendricks. After back-to-back singles by Torrens and Taylor, Acuña hit an infield single to load the bases with no outs for Baty. Hitting against the lefty Brennan Bernardino, Baty went the other way, lining a single toward the left field corner to drive in two. Unfortunately, Acuña got a bad read and had to stay on second. Lindor reached on a fielder’s choice and Marte walked to load the bases to bring up Soto. The slugger hit a long sacrifice fly to bring in the Mets’ fourth run of the game.

–Tylor Megill was on his game in his first start at Fenway Park. The big right-hander struck out nine of the first 14 batters he faced, but faced trouble in the fifth inning. After two infield singles — both thanks to misplays on defense — and a HBP, Megill had to face the bases loaded with one out. Jaren Durran jumped on the first pitch and launched it into right-center field. The wind brought it back in for Soto to make the out, but the Red Sox tied the game at 1-1 on the sacrifice fly. After a walk to Rafael Devers to load the bases again, Mendoza pulled his starter for Huascar Brazoban. The reliever would get Alex Bregman to strike out on a check swing to end the 10-pitch at-bat and the threat.

Brazoban’s heroics put an end to Megill’s night. Megill threw 85 pitches (55 strikes) across 4.2 innings, allowing one run on four hits, one walk and tying a career high with 10 strikeouts.

-Brazoban continued his dominance, striking out four batters in a season-high 2.1 innings to help bridge the gap to Edwin Diaz. Brazoban’s ERA this season dropped to 0.90. Reed Garrett pitched a scoreless eighth, working around a one-out single and capping his night off by striking out Bregman. It was the third baseman’s fourth strikeout of the evening, the first time Bregman has earned the “Golden Sombrero” in his 10-year career.

Diaz worked around a leadoff walk to nail down the win. Mets pitchers struck out 16 batters on Wednesday.

-Manager Carlos Mendoza changed up the lineup, batting Marte in the two-hole, Soto in the three-hole and Alonso at cleanup behind Lindor. And, for at least one night, it worked out. Marte finished 0-for-3 with a walk, while Soto went 0-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Alonso went 1-for-5 with two strikeouts.

Lindor went 2-for-5 with a home run. Lindor’s long ball, which came in the ninth inning to put a cap on the night, is his 10th of the season and now leads the team. It also snapped the team’s 217 at-bats between home runs.

Soto struck out looking twice in his first two at-bats on seven pitches without swinging the bat. It was the first time in his career that Soto struck out twice in a row without swinging the bat. Garrett Crochet would strike out Soto for the third time in the sixth, this time swinging.

Game MVP: Brett Baty

With the offense scuffling, especially with runners in scoring position, Baty helped alleviate that pressure with his two big hits. He finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets have an off day on Thursday before starting a three-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citi Field on Friday. First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m.

Griffin Canning (5-1, 2.47 ERA) will take the mound while the Dodgers will send Clayton Kershaw, making just his second start this season, to oppose him.

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