Mets Bats' Rock Cleveland En Route To Series Sweep
Mets 13, Guardians 6 (Progressive Field, Cleveland, OH)
Mets Record: 50-66
Mets Streak: W3
Mets Last 10: 8-7
WP: Nolan McLean (8-7)
LP: Foster Griffin (12-4)
Seat On The Korner: Marcus Semien
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.
Today's Seat goes to the much-maligned Marcus Semien, who had a huge day in the Mets' offensive outburst. Semien went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, a walk, two runs scored and two RBI to finish a triple shy of the cycle. After the Mets fell behind 2-0 in the first, Semien got them on the board with a solo homer that sparked an avalanche of offense for the rest of the afternoon.
Need To Know:
The Mets are now 3-0 since the trade deadline and have scored 25 runs in their past three games.
The Mets completed their third sweep of the season and their first on the road with the win on Thursday.
The Mets' last sweep came back in May, when they swept a three-game series against the Miami Marlins at Citi Field.
The Mets won their first series in Cleveland since 2016 and completed a road sweep of the Guardians for the first time since 2010.
The Mets are now 10-2 in games against AL Central teams this season with only a three-game series against the Chicago White Sox still to come later this month.
Three different Mets (Semien, Luis Robert Jr and Carson Benge) recorded at least three hits on the day while three more (Francisco Lindor, Bo Bichette and Luis Torrens) added a pair of hits.
The Mets got five runs off of newly-acquired Foster Griffin for the second time this season after he gave up 5 in 5 innings against them as a member of the Washington Nationals on May 19th. The Nationals' offense picked up Griffin that day to help him get a win but Cleveland's couldn't do the same this afternoon.
Turning Point:
Trailing by a run in the second inning, the Mets got a man on for Luis Torrens, who launched a two-run shot off of Griffin to give them a lead they would never relinquish. Torrens, who usually isn't known for his offense, collected three hits on the afternoon and swung the momentum entirely in the Mets' favor with this key blast.
Three Things:
A Much-Needed Blast For Francisco Lindor:
One of the few Mets who wasn't having much fun in Cleveland was Lindor, who has been in a funk since the trade deadline. Lindor got back into the swing of things in the seventh, crushing a three-run homer to push the Mets' lead back out to 9-5 after Cleveland had closed the deficit to a single run. There is a lot on the line for Lindor, who has had a lost year to this point, down the stretch so perhaps this blast can get him going to finish the season strong.
Nolan McLean's Struggles With The Long Ball:
The Mets will surely be happy that McLean got a win to improve to 8-7 on the year, but he surrendered yet another ill-timed homer late in his start. Holding a 6-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth, McLean allowed two men to reach before Nathaniel Lowe hit his first homer as a Guardian, a three-run shot to make it a 6-5 game. McLean has now given up four homers in his past three starts, a trend that first emerged during his slump in May when he gave up six homers in a four start stretch. On the year, McLean has given up 14 homers in 23 starts, which is a bit too high for a pitcher of his caliber.
The Mets' Proper Usage Of The Platoon Advantage:
With a lefty in Griffin on the mound, the Mets went to a platoon advantage lineup, sitting Jared Young in favor of Eric Wagaman and starting Christian Pache in favor of A.J. Ewing. Interim manager Andy Green finally demonstrated a proper understanding of how to maximize the advantage by inserting both players into the game once Griffin came out, getting both some rest for starters and putting them in an advantageous situation in the game. That kind of foresight wasn't always present during Carlos Mendoza's tenure and should be something valued in whoever the next manager ends up being.
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