Clay pigeonholes the Giants into oblivion as the Mets ride Holmes and hot bats to second straight win

Mets 9 Giants 0 (Oracle Park, San Francisco, CA)

Mets record: 5-4

Mets streak: Won 2

WP - Clay Holmes (2-0)

LP - Landen Roupp (1-1)

Seat on the Korner: Clay Holmes

We select a Star of the Game and virtually invite him to take his Seat on the Korner — just as Ralph Kiner did on WOR-TV Channel 9 during the early days of the New York Mets.

Continuing the tradition of Rheingold Beer sponsoring Kiner’s Korner, this season every seat is proudly presented by The Main Event Restaurant & Sports Bar.

With locations in Plainview and Farmingdale, The Main Event features 80+ HD TVs, fresh daily seafood, and Black Angus certified steaks—so you never have to choose between great food and the big game.

For the second game in a row, the Mets got excellent work from their starting pitcher. Clay Holmes went seven scoreless innings for the first time in his career, giving up only three hits and two walks while striking out four to provide the backbone to a 9-0 victory.

Need to Know

• An MRI showed that Juan Soto has a minor calf strain and is day-to-day.

• With Soto out of the lineup, Bo Bichette moved up to the second spot in the order. Bichette has batted second more than any other lineup spot (by far), but had exclusively batted third in the order as a Met. Bichette went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored.

• Brett Baty was moved up to the cleanup spot for the 4th time in his career as a starter. He went 2-for-5 and scored two runs.

• Jorge Polanco returned to the lineup at designated hitter after battling Achillies tendinitis.

• Mark Vientos went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.

• Tyrone Taylor's pinch hit three run HR in the 5th was his first hit of the season and it blew the doors off the game making it 8-0. The Mets had one pinch hit home run all of 2025.

• The Mets have gone 11-for-25 with runners in scoring position in the last two games after going 6-for-52 with RISP in their previous 5 games.

• Giants infielder Christian Koss came in to pitch the 9th for the Giants and retired the Mets 1-2-3. It's his fifth career pitching appearance and he hasn't been scored upon yet (so the Mets shouldn't feel so bad.)

Turning Point

Matt Chapman is a six-time gold glove award winner.

That error (his third of the season) brought in the first run of the game while a second error by Jerar Encarnacion on the same play brought in the second run. The Mets were off and running from there.

Three Keys

Efficient Brilliance

You thought Nolan McLean was good? Clay Holmes would like you to hold his beverage. Holmes' seven scoreless were punctuated by the fact that he did it in only 90 pitches. While McLean was spectacular last night, Holmes' outing tonight wasn't just efficient and workmanlike. It was an ace-type performance.

Between Holmes and Tobias Myers, they held the Giants to one hit since the third inning. And here's how you know that Mets pitching had a great night: Noted Mets killers Luis Arraez and Harrison Bader went a combined 0-for-7.

The Swag is Back

After reaching base four times last night and getting three hits tonight, you're going to have to pry Mark Vientos out of the lineup with a crowbar.

Even his defense at first base hasn't been a complete liability, though there has been some luck involved.

Hey, luck is the residue of design, right?

Like It Used To Be, Baby

Tyrone Taylor had a much more effective 2024 for the Mets than 2025. His 2026 was looking more like 2025 as he started out 0-for-9, until tonight when he pinch hit for Jared Young against a lefty pitcher.

Taylor would drive in another run in the 7th to cap the evening at 9-0. For however long Soto is out, the Mets will need Taylor to chip in a little bit, like it used to be. Tonight was an excellent start.