– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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ARLINGTON, TEXAS — If anyone wondered how the New York Mets, winners of five in a row, would do now that they would play their first game outside of Queens since the hot streak started, that answer came within the first two innings on Monday night.
Just fine, thank you very much!
Francisco Lindor went 4-for-4, with three singles and a double, as the Mets pounded out 22 hits in a 14-2 trouncing of the Texas Rangers inside Globe Life Park. DJ Stewart had the biggest blast for New York, a three-run home run with two outs as part of a six-run second inning, while Brandon Nimmo hit a two-run shot in the fourth inning as part of his three-hit, four-RBI evening.
Eight of the nine starters for New York had at least one hit, 10 players overall had at least one hit for the Mets, and five (Lindor, Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez) had at least three hits for the first time since August 2018 in Philadelphia.
“Right now, we’re riding a good wave. Hitting’s contagious and it seems like we are in one of those stages where everything’s coming our way,” Lindor said. “We’ve just got to continue to ride as long as we can.”
New York’s 22 hits were the most in a game since 23 it racked up in an August 2019 game against Atlanta, and half of the team’s hits tonight came off Rangers starter Jon Gray, who came into tonight sporting a 1.53 ERA over his last 12 starts and looking like he had a chance to be selected to the All-Star Game for the first time in his career. Instead of continuing his rich form, Gray was left wondering how everything went so wrong.
“It seemed like they knew what was coming,” Gray said. “I’m just not sure what it is.”
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Monday evening’s game, with photos taken by ALOST staff photographer Ross James. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 25 pictures in total.
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