Mark

Vientos

Vientos and MJ Melendez have been alternating starts of late. Vientos played over Melendez in four straight games from May 27-31, but since then, Melendez has gotten the nod in three out of five games. Vientos can reemerge as a regular if he gets hot, but he’s batting just .218/.253/.378 right now.

Vientos did his damage early in this one, demolishing a Max Meyer fastball for a 445-foot (109.2 mph EV) solo shot in the third inning that extended the Mets’ early advantage to 5-1. That would be his only hit in four at-bats in the contest. For the season, the 26-year-old slugger is now slashing .224/.261/.391 with seven homers and 24 RBI.

Vientos had the Mets only hit off of Max Meyer through seven innings on a base hit in the second inning. With a runner on in the ninth, he prevented the Mets from getting shut out, driving in a run with his second hit. The 26-year-old slugger is hitting .237/.277/.404 with six homers, 16 runs scored, and 23 RBI across 166 plate appearances. A 20.5 percent strikeout rate and 47.5 percent hard-hit rate are indicative of perhaps some better luck on the way at the plate for Vientos.

Vientos doubled home two runs in the third, and then picked up his third RBI of the game on a fielder’s choice. The infielder has now driven in 22 runs with a slash of .234/.277/.422 over the first 45 games of the campaign.

Vientos was practically the lone source of offense for the Mets here. His solo home run in the second inning stood as their only run until the top of the 10th when he hit an RBI double on the first pitch of the frame. After being lifted for a pinch runner, Carson Benge drove his replacement Vidal Bruján to give the Mets a valuable insurance run. That means Vientos had a hand in all three of the runs they scored in this win. While it doesn’t always look pretty, Vientos has four home runs, 11 RBI, and an .824 OPS over his last 15 games as he tries to reestablish himself as a true middle of the order bat.

Vientos had a seriously unlucky game, winding up with just a single on balls in play with xBAs of .940, .780, .760 and .720. His first at-bat produced a long drive to left that was knocked down by the win. Vientos didn’t find out until after he crossed second base that it was a flyout; he thought it had left the yard. His second at-bat produced a second 390+-foot flyout, and he lined out to a leaping Edouard Julien at second base in the ninth. At least Vientos’s hit was an important one, giving the Mets a 4-0 lead in the sixth before the Rockies scored twice the following inning. Vientos has six RBI the last two days, putting him at 14 in 95 plate appearances for the season.

Vientos took Jack Kochanowicz and Nick Sandlin deep for his sixth career two-homer game. He hadn’t had even a multi-RBI game this season while hitting .238/.287/.363 coming into the day. He’s getting to play regularly of late because of all of the Mets’ injuries, but he’ll need to be a steadier run producer in order to keep the lineup spot for good.

It’s the second time in three games over the weekend that Vientos has found himself outside of the Mets’ starting nine. Jared Young will start in his place at first base and will bat third against Athletics’ righty Aaron Civale.

After starting the last seven games in a row, this appears to just be a routine day off for Vientos, who is hitless in his last three appearances. Ronny Mauricio is starting at third base for the Mets and batting seventh.

Soto said over the weekend that he believed he could avoid the injured list and called himself “day-to-day.” Unfortunately, the injury was more severe than that. The team has said that a typical return for this type of injury is between two and three weeks. The Mets would like Brett Baty to take most of Soto’s innings in left field, but Baty jammed his left thumb on Saturday night and didn’t play on Sunday. Baty was allegedly able to pinch hit, so he should be good to go, which would also open up first base at-bats for Mark Vientos, who has been swinging a hot bat lately.