It took a grand slam and some shrewd managing by Carlos Mendoza, but the Mets matched their season-high win streak with their seventh straight on Wednesday night at Citi Field.
The Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with an 8-3 win, their second straight sweep in a row. It marked the third time this season the Mets have won seven straight.
Jesse Winker hit a grand slam in the first inning off right-hander Tanner Houck to put the Mets up, 4-0. But the Red Sox cut the lead to 4-3 in the third when they took three runs off of right-hander Tylor Megill.
Still, the four runs were enough to get the Mets (76-64) through until they scored four in the bottom of the eighth, though there were some dicey moments. The Red Sox (70-70) had runners on in innings 2-8, but the Mets turned three double plays and played solid defense.
The Red Sox couldn’t have found the strike zone even if someone had drawn it for them in the eighth. Kenley Jansen, Rich Hill and Greg Weissart combined to give up four runs on only one hit, with Jansen and Hill walking three and two hitters, respectively.
Edwin Diaz pitched around a leadoff walk in the ninth to preserve the win.
Megill had thrown little more than 60 pitches when the Mets got left-hander Alex Young up in the bullpen. It was only the fifth inning and the big right-hander hadn’t even gone through the order twice.
Megill came out of the dugout to start the inning with the Mets holding a one-run lead. He faced Boston’s No. 8 hitter Enmanuel Valdez and gave up a single. Mendoza leapt from the dugout and called for the left-hander. With a switch-hitter hitting ninth and three straight lefties at the top of the order, Mendoza played the matchups.
It worked out.
Young got Nick Sogard to pop up before giving up a single to leadoff man Jarren Duran. He then induced a double play to Rafael Devers to end the inning and strand the runners.
Mendoza was quick with the hook, pulling Young after he walked pinch-hitter Robert Refsnyder to lead off the sixth. With a day off Thursday and a close game on the line, he could afford to empty his ‘pen. Huascar Brazobán got the Mets out of the sixth with a double play.
He put one on with one out in the sixth and was relieved by left-hander Danny Young (3-0). The Red Sox countered by having Romy Gonzalez, a right-handed hitter, pinch-hit for Sogard. Gonzalez hit into a double play, Boston’s third in as many innings.
With two out in the eighth, Danny Young was replaced with Phil Maton. The right-hander put runners on the corners, but got Masataka Yoshida to line out to Francisco Lindor at shortstop for the third out.
Megill went four innings, plus one batter in the fifth, allowing three earned runs on five hits, walking one and striking out three. He’s expected to return to Triple-A Syracuse soon with Paul Blackburn eligible to come off the injured list soon.
Houck loaded the bases in the first before getting the first out. He struck out Pete Alonso, but Winker caught a 2-2 splitter on the outside edge of the plate and hit it right off the top of the center field fence.
He was charged with four earned runs on five hits. He settled in enough to strike out seven, but still took the loss (8-10).