Mark Vientos continued his recent resurgence by hitting a tiebreaking RBI double with one out in the fifth inning as the host New York Mets inched closer to first place in the National League East with a 13-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday night.
Vientos helped the Mets win for the sixth time in nine games following a 1-10 skid from Aug. 3-15. The Mets moved back within six of the division-leading Phillies thanks to Vientos, who is 12-for-31 (.387) in his past eight games.
Vientos started a three-run rally in the fourth off Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sanchez (11-5) with a double that scored Pete Alonso to help erase a three-run deficit. He reached base three times and was lifted in the seventh after getting hit in the back by Jordan Romano.
Luis Torrens helped the Mets surge ahead in the seventh with a three-run homer that gave them a 10-3 lead off Romano. Torrens also had an RBI double in the sixth that knocked out Sanchez and a run-scoring single in the eighth as part of his second career five-RBI showing.
He also drove in five on Aug. 14, 2021, for the Seattle Mariners
With the game tied at 3-3 and New York sporting runners at first and second following walks by Starling Marte and Juan Soto, Vientos snapped the tie by lacing a 2-1 changeup down the right field line to score Soto.
Jeff McNeil drove in three runs with a pair of RBI singles and a sacrifice fly as the Mets collected 14 hits and were 11-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
Tyrone Taylor added three hits in the win.
Trea Turner opened the game with a triple and scored on a grounder by Kyle Schwarber. Alec Bohm also had a two-run single in the third but grounded into a double play in the fifth against Jose Castillo, who had just come on for Senga with one on and none out.
After the double-play grounder, Bohm complained to umpires about the glare from a parabolic television microphone in center field and the device was removed after a brief delay.
After New York’s Kodai Senga allowed three runs on six hits in four-plus innings, four relievers combined to go five innings.
Castillo (1-2) then retired Brandon Marsh after the delay before the Mets went ahead.
Sanchez allowed a season-worst six runs (five earned) and tied a season high by permitting eight hits in 5 1/3 innings. The left-hander struck out four and walked three in his shortest outing since May 24.
