Four-Run Eighth Helps Mets Win On Mother's Day

Mets 6, Cubs 2 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets Record: 26-15 Mets Streak: W1 Mets Last 10: 5-5

WP: Ryne Stanek (1-3)

LP: Porter Hodge (2-1)

Seat On The Korner:

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

While Roku named Francisco Lindor as their Chevrolet Electric Player of the Game, the Seat goes to Mets' starting pitcher Griffin Canning. The one mistake Canning made on the day was a solo homer to Pete Crow-Armstrong, which was one of just two hits the Mets' starter allowed on the afternoon. Canning walked just one and struck out five to lower his ERA for the season to 2.36, which was an effort good enough to win if Reed Garrett hadn't blown a 2-1 lead in the seventh.

Need To Know:

• Ryne Stanek earned the win in relief for the Mets, picking up his first victory of the season by tossing a scoreless eighth.

• Luis Torrens left the game after taking a foul ball off his groin in the top of the sixth inning. Francisco Alvarez finished the game behind the plate.

• Cubs' starter Matthew Boyd faced the Mets for the first time since 2016, when he was a member of the Detroit Tigers. Boyd gave up two runs on six hits over six innings while striking out eight.

• The Mets secured a series victory over the Cubs with a win on the Mother's Day matinee.

• The Mets and Cubs were the subjects of the first Roku Sunday Leadoff game of the season. SNY's Gary Cohen was the play-by-play voice and worked with Cubs' analyst Joe Girardi while Cubs' reporter Taylor McGregor completed the team as a field reporter.

• The Mets homered three more times today and went deep nine times in three games against the Cubs.

• Lindor, Mark Vientos and Brandon Nimmo paced the Mets' offense, going a combined 6-for-11 with three home runs and five RBI.

Turning Point:

This game was close for a long time as the Mets either led by a run or were tied until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Francisco Lindor stepped to the plate against Cubs' reliever Porter Hodge. Less than 24 hours after Hodge had gotten Lindor to ground into a critical double play in the ninth inning, the Mets' shortstop got his revenge by cranking a homer to lead off the inning and put the Mets back in front 3-2. The flood gates opened after that as the Mets tacked on three more runs against Hodge, who picked up the loss.

Three Keys:

Making His Mark:

Mets' manager Carlos Mendoza has shown some tough love to Vientos of late, sitting him for consecutive games in order to show that nothing is guaranteed in the majors. Vientos took that lesson in stride and delivered in a big way on Sunday, homering in the bottom of the sixth to give the Mets a 2-1 lead and adding an insurance run with an RBI single in the eighth. One of the big keys to lengthening the Mets' lineup is seeing Vientos warm up and he has been heating up over the past month, entering the day hitting .278 with four home runs, 14 RBI and an .800 OPS over the past 30 days.

Finding Nimmo:

It looked like Nimmo's 9 RBI day in Washington in late April would unlock his season, but a stomach bug he caught immediately after that game slowed his roll. Nimmo had one of his most productive days of the season on Sunday, going 2-for-3 with a big two-run homer in the eighth inning to push the Mets' lead out to four runs. The Mets have been using Nimmo in the middle of their lineup throughout the season and he's shown the ability to succed there in the past, so they have to hope that today's game is a sign of things to come for their longest-tenured player.

Keep An Eye On Reed Garrett:

Perhaps the most dependable reliever in the Mets' bullpen this season, Reed Garrett has been heavily used by Carlos Mendoza in the early going. While he was absurdly dominant in the month of April, much like in 2024, Garrett has gotten off to a tougher start in May, giving up two hits in Arizona on Monday before surrendering a run in the seventh inning this afternoon. The Mets bailed Garrett out with their rally in the eighth but he has already appeared in 19 of the team's first 41 games, working almost exclusively in high-leverage situations, so they have to be careful not to burn him out too early.