For the first time since early May, the Mets are on a winning streak.
They just barely outslugged Arizona to get it.
The Mets rattled Diamondbacks pitching for 14 hits in Friday night’s 10-9 victory at Citi Field, giving them their second win in as many days.
Every member of the Mets’ starting lineup recorded at least one hit, and four players had at least two. Seven of the Mets’ hits went for extra bases.
Among the big blows were Starling Marte’s three-run triple in the first inning against Arizona starter Jordan Montgomery; Mark Vientos’ fourth-inning RBI single to cap a three-run rally; and J.D. Martinez’s two-run home run in the sixth inning.
It’s the first time the Mets have won two games in a row since their back-to-back victories in St. Louis on May 6-7. They went 4-15 between the win streaks.
“It’s good to continue to win games, but the mentality is one game at a time,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “We’ll continue with that mentality, our preparation, having fun. It’s been a while, but it’s a good feeling.”
What appeared on paper to be a promising pitching matchup between former Yankees teammates quickly turned into an offensive rollercoaster, with Mets starter Luis Severino serving up three runs in the top of the first inning and Montgomery surrendering four runs in the bottom of the frame.
Before Friday, Severino had not allowed an earned run in a first inning this season after posting a 11.50 first-inning ERA last year with the Yankees. His velocity sat in the low 90s early in Friday’s outing before jumping to the upper-90s by the end of his gritty 5.1 innings.
Severino said he was dealing with low energy toward the start of the outing. In the second inning, he received honey-flavored gummies from a team nutritionist that helped boost his energy by the end of his start.
“It got me way better after that,” Severino said. “First couple innings, I was not feeling that great.”
Severino ultimately allowed five runs (four earned) to improve to 3-2 with a 3.52 ERA in his first season with the Mets.
The Mets are now 2-0 since Francisco Lindor called a team meeting after Wednesday’s loss to the Dodgers completed a sweep at home.
“You can see over the last two days that the team has really played a lot better and come together,” said Brandon Nimmo, who went 2-for-5 and scored two runs. “I think it’s made a tangible difference, kind of confronting the elephant in the room.”
Montgomery gave up eight runs (six earned) over 4.0 innings as his ERA ballooned to 5.48 in his first year with Arizona. Severino and Montgomery spent parts of six seasons together from 2017-22, making up two-fifths of the Yankees’ starting rotation for much of that stretch.
The Yankees traded Montgomery to St. Louis before the 2022 deadline for Harrison Bader, who, like Severino, signed a one-year deal with the Mets in the offseason. Bader struck a double against Montgomery on Friday.
Before Friday’s game, the Mets sent down Brett Baty, making Vientos their primary third baseman. Vientos, who began the season at Triple-A, went 3-for-5 with two RBI and is now hitting .327.
The Mets led, 10-5, to begin the ninth inning, but reliever Reed Garrett gave up a three-run home run to Joc Pederson and a solo shot to Christian Walker on back-to-back pitches with two outs. Garrett then struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to end the game.
With the win, the Mets finished with a 9-19 record in May and are 24-33 overall this season.
Since the start of 2023, the Mets are 8-1 against the Diamondbacks, who represented the National League in the World Series last year but are 25-32 this season.
On Saturday, the Mets will seek their first three-game winning streak since mid-April, when they won a season-best six games in a row. A win would clinch the Mets’ first series victory since their trip to St. Louis.
The Mets are set to retire Darryl Strawberry’s No. 18 on Saturday.