The Mets ended the Houston Astros’ seven-game winning streak on Friday night at Citi Field with a 7-2 win to keep the good times rolling.
-On the day that Jose Iglesias highly anticipated new single and Mets rally song OMG was released, as well as special guest and new mascot Grimace in the house, the vibes were high at Citi Field on Friday night.
Looking to put a damper on things was the Houston Astros, winners of seven straight and who, like New York, just climbed all the way back to a .500 record after a disappointing start to the season.
-In the blink of an eye, with most fans still not in their seats yet, Jose Altuve took the first pitch thrown by Mets starter Jose Quintana deep to lead off the game with a solo shot that gave the Astros a 1-0 advantage. Quintana would end up loading the bases, but after 36 pitches he got out of the inning without further damage.
-The Mets loaded the bases themselves in the bottom half of the inning against Houston starter Ronel Blanco. With the bases loaded and nobody out, New York only scratched out a run on a sac fly by Francisco Alvarez.
-Quintana wasnt at his sharpest on the night and only managed to make it through four innings, although he did well to only allow two earned runs despite six hits and three walks. The lefty also struck out seven, which coupled with the constant traffic on the basepaths, upped his pitch count to 93 (54 strikes) on the night.
-Down 2-1 in the bottom of the fourth inning, Tyrone Taylor hit the first of three home runs by the Mets a solo bomb that tied things up. It wasnt until the sixth where things got hectic. Pete Alonso gave New York its first lead of the night on a towering solo blast that went 419 feet for his 17th home run of the season.
Then, with a runner on second and two outs, Mark Vientos hit a routine ground ball to third baseman Alex Bregman who booted it to extend the inning. Jeff McNeil, with all of the struggles hes gone through this season, followed with a great at-bat, fouling off tough pitches before making the Astros pay with a three-run line drive home run that just cleared the right field wall and gave the Mets a comfortable 6-2 lead. It was McNeils first home run at Citi Field this year and just his fourth this season as the second baseman finished 3-for-4.
As always, after each home run that was hit, Iglesias OMG played at Citi Field while players in the dugout unveiled a new OMG sign.
-New Yorks bullpen pitched five scoreless innings with Dedniel Nunez going two innings and managing to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh that had the tying run at the plate. Nunez got the win for the second time in his career.
-The Astros outhit the Mets, 12-9, as Yordan Alvarez and Yainer Diaz each had three hits, but they could only muster two runs. For New York, Francisco Lindor and McNeil each had a multi-hit night.
McNeil had his best night at the plate in a long time. Could this be a sign of things to come by the former batting champion?
The Mets and Astros continue their three-game series at Citi Field on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 p.m.
RHP Tylor Megill (2-4, 4.81 ERA) takes on LHP Framber Valdez (6-5, 3.68 ERA).