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Sean Manaea goes six strong, Francisco Alvarez doubles twice as Mets beat Rangers, 6-3
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- Sean Manaea goes six strong, Francisco Alvarez doubles twice as Mets beat Rangers, 6-3
The Mets got six solid innings from Sean Manaea and an all-around good effort at the plate and on the bases from Francisco Alvarez to grab a 6-3 win over the Rangers on Tuesday night in Texas .
The win was Andy Green 's first as the full-time Mets manager after he signed a three-year contract with the club, and he is now 38-38 since taking over in late June.
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Here are the takeaways...
- Alvarez got the Mets ' first hit, smashing a 2-0 Mackenzie Gore fastball 396 feet into left-center for a double that one-hoped the wall to start the third. The DH for the night just tattooed it (112.3 mph off the bat) on a ball that would have gone out of seven ballparks, including Citi Field.
With two down and a runner on second in the fourth, he got lucky when former teammate Brandon Nimmo couldn't make a running grab on a ball that hit off his glove as he nearly collided with center fielder Ezequiel Duran in the right-center gap to give the Mets a 2-1 lead on the error.
Alvarez, up with runners on first and second and one gone in the sixth, ripped his second double of the night to virtually the same spot to plate two more runs to give the Mets a 4-3 lead on his 14th double of the campaign. (The second double would have been a homer in six parks, including Citi Field.) Alvarez pushed the envelope and came around to score on a pop-out in foul territory as first baseman Jake Burgerhesitated throwing home after making the catch up the right-field line. He finished 2-for-5 with a strikeout.
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- Manaea got four whiffs on his first four swings, plus four called strikes, as he struck out the side in the first on 13 pitches. He was immediately in a spot of bother in the second with an error and a Nimmo single to center. A ball that somehow carried to the wall in left put two in scoring position, but Manea got a strikeout looking and a pop-up to right to escape without any damage.
The southpaw started the third with a four-pitch walk to the nine-hole hitter, but bounced back with a three-pitch strikeout and a pop-up to shallow center Francisco Lindortracked down. But a passed ball from Luis Torrens allowed the Rangers to level the score on Josh Jung 's RBI double that just stayed fair down the right-field line. Manaea got his sixth strikeout to end the frame.
Manaea loaded the bases with nobody out in the fourth on a bloop single, a walk, and a hit batter. A sac fly to the warning track in left leveled the score, but Manaea hit another batter, his 16th of the season. Another sac fly to the warning track in left put Texas ahead before the Mets lefty got a three-pitch strikeout to end the inning.
The lefty worked his second and third 1-2-3 innings of the night to close his penultimate start of the year on a high note, conquering his sixth-inning bugaboo . Manaea's final line: 6.0 innings, three runs, three hits, two walks, two HBP, and nine strikeouts on 99 pitches (68 strikes).
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- Carson Bengegrabbed his 20th double of the season on a ball that hit the chalk in the left-field corner and hopped over the fence with one down in the fourth. He didn't wait long to grab his 21st with a two-out double yanked into the right-field corner to plate a run against left-hander Robert Garciain the seventh. He finished 2-for-4 with a walk, a strikeout, and the pair of two-baggers.
- Brett Baty , pinch-hitting for Mark Vientos , smacked an 0-2, opposite-field double off Nathan Eovaldi to start the sixth, his 22nd double of the year, and later showed off his wheels to score from first on Benge's double as he was running with the pitch. He went 1-for-2 with a walk.
- A.J. Ewingwent 1-for-3 with a walk and an infield hit with one down in the sixth and added a stolen base, his 25th of the year, setting a record for a Mets rookie.
- Juan Soto , who tagged a ball (100.5 mph) to left-center, but it went for a 373-foot warning-track out his first time up, got a chance with runners on the corners and two outs in the third and cashed in with an RBI grounder that squeaked into center to plate Alvarez. He went 2-for-5.
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- Nate Lavenderwas the first man out of the bullpen and delivered a 1-2-3 inning with two going down on strikes. His ERA stands at 1.83 in 19 appearances with 25 strikeouts this year. Dedniel Núñezstruck out the first two he faced in a perfect eighth to make it 14-straight Rangers retired.
Kodai Senga got a strikeout to start the ninth as home plate umpire Laz Diaz, in his final week as an ump, made an astute call on a foul tip into the glove on a 3-2 pitch. Senga hit the next guy as he couldn't control his forkball, but earned his eighth save of the year with a strikeout and flyout to left.
- Lindor committed his 11th error of the season with a bad throw to first on a routine grounder to leadoff the second. He went 1-for-4 with a walk.
- Bo Bichette flew out to left first time up and left runners on the corners with a groundout to end the third. He finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout looking, adding a ringing single (108.6 mph) to center to start the ninth.
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- Marcus Semien , playing his first game in Texas since an offseason trade with the Rangers for Nimmo, went 0-for-5 but, with some good base running, scored from first on Alvarez's double.
- Luis Torrenswent 1-for-3 with an RBI on a sac fly thanks to Alvarez's smart base running.
- Vientos was caught looking at a fastball at the knees his first time up and went 0-for-2.
- Nimmo went 2-for-4 with a strikeout in his first game against his old club.
- The Mets left plenty of meat on the bone, as despite pounding out 10 hits went 3-for-16 with RISP and left 10 on base. Semien was the biggest offender, going 0-for-4 in those situations, with Ewing and Alvarez each going 1-for-3.
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Game MVP: Mets pitchers
The Mets allowed just one base runner after the fourth inning and held the Rangers to three hits with 15 strikeouts.
Highlights
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What's next
The two teams are back in action on Wednesday night with an 8:05 p.m. EDT first pitch.
Nolan McLean gets the ball (3.18 ERA, 1.193 WHIP in 172.2 innings) for his 31st start for New York. The home side has yet to name a starter.
