The Mets (74-64) entered Monday’s action one game back in the Wild Card race after a 7-3 road trip that featured a series split against the Padres and series wins against the Diamondbacks and White Sox. The Mets traveled back home to begin a six-game homestand with the AL Wild Card hopeful Red Sox (70-68) being their first test.
The first game of the series featured a matchup between Luis Severino (10-6, 3.84 ERA) and Brayan Bello (12-7, 4.75 ERA), and it was Severino and the Mets who prevailed in a 4-1 victory to extend the Mets’ win streak to five and move them within half a game in the Wild Card race.
Severino was effective against his former AL East foe, flushing his most recent outing, which was marred by a comebacker to the foot and a decrease in velocity down the drain. He looked more like his best self in this series opener, allowing just one run in seven innings of work. He allowed six hits and two walks, and struck out five on 100 pitches in the effort to lower his season ERA from 3.96 to 3.84.
The lone run Severino allowed came after Brandon Nimmo misplayed a ball in center field, allowing Ceddanne Rafaela to advance to third base before being driven in on a Jarren Duran single in the third inning. Otherwise, Severino was sharp and received help from his defense; he induced two ground ball double plays and exited the fifth inning after a nifty fielding play from Pete Alonso.
On the other hand, Brayan Bello was ineffective, and his troubles were worsened by shoddy defense. This came after a stretch in which Bello recorded a quality start in three of his four previous outings, including his latest outing in which he twirled eight scoreless innings.
Bello tossed a scoreless first but would surrender at least a run in the next three innings. He allowed a run to score on a ground ball double play in the second before Jarren Duran misplayed a ball in center field that turned into a Brandon Nimmo RBI double in the third.
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The Mets struck again in the fourth inning when DJ Stewart scored from first base after Tyler O’Neill bobbled a Luis Torrens double in left before Francisco Lindor drove in Torrens to give the Mets four runs through four innings.
Bello was removed from the game after five innings of four-run ball, making way for former Mets prospect Josh Winckowski, who quieted the Mets offense with three scoreless innings. Danny Young was the Mets’ answer out of the bullpen to start the eighth inning, and after striking out the first two batters he saw, he walked a batter and hit another to bring Rafael Devers to the plate as the tying run.
In this pivotal moment of the game, Young bested Devers by inducing a weak ground ball to end the inning. That ensured the Mets would enter the ninth inning up three, and with Edwin Díaz having worked four of the past five days, the team called upon Phil Maton to close out the game.
Maton earned his first save as a Met in easy fashion, setting the Red Sox batters down in order, including two strikeouts. Despite being his first save with New York, Maton has been a fantastic late-inning reliever, and he now has a 1.77 ERA with 22 strikeouts in 22 appearances with the Mets.
The 4-1 win puts the Mets 10 games above .500 for the first time this year at 74-64, and it puts them half a game behind the Braves for the final Wild Card spot with 24 games to play.
Francisco Lindor finished today’s game with 153 hits in his and the team’s 138th game of 2024. Lindor has now matched his 2023 hit total in 22 fewer games after he recorded 153 hits in 160 games a season ago. He batted .254 in 2023, one of the lowest marks of his career, and is currently batting .271 this season.
Francisco Lindor is a man-possessed, owning a career-best 31-game on-base streak and a 13-game hitting streak. He entered Monday with a .320/.365/.570/.935 line in his last 30 games, the length of his on-base streak, and added onto it in this game by going 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch and an RBI. Lindor was showered with “MVP” chants following his RBI hit in the fourth inning, and whether he wins the award or not at the end of the season, he’s certainly playing at an MVP level.
The Mets continue their series against the Red Sox on Tuesday. David Peterson (8-1, 2.83 ERA), who has gone at least seven innings in his last three starts, takes the mound for New York, while Kutter Crawford (8-12, 4.12 ERA) goes for Boston. Peterson has a 3.38 ERA in four career appearances against the Red Sox, while Crawford allowed four runs in four innings in his only career start against the Mets.
First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. ET, and the game will air on SNY and TBS.
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