BOSTON — Brett Baty rounded first base and pumped his fist in jubilation as the large contingent of Mets fans at Fenway Park cheered.
After a week of offensive frustration, this was a baby step for manager Carlos Mendoza’s crew.
The Mets had runners in scoring position late and Baty delivered Wednesday night.
Baty’s two-run, bases-loaded single in the seventh inning put his team ahead to the finish in a 5-1 victory over the Red Sox that snapped the Mets’ three-game losing streak.
“It was just a big point in the game,” Baty said, when asked about his fist pump. “These past couple of days we have had trouble scoring runs and I just thought that was big for our pitchers and our team, so I let out a little emotion there.”
Baty drove in three runs overall, helping the Mets to avoid their first sweep of the season. Baty started at third base against ace left-hander Garrett Crochet largely for defensive purposes but ended up carrying the lineup.
“It’s just really good to see one of your young players perform and continue to play with confidence,” Mendoza said.
Mendoza used a reconfigured lineup. Most notably, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso were pushed back to third and fourth in the order, respectively, with Starling Marte — at least for this night — inserted in the No. 2 hole. Mendoza indicated he would consider keeping Soto and Alonso in those lineup spots for a stretch of games.
Francisco Lindor ended the Mets’ homerless drought at six games with a shot over the Green Monster in the ninth inning. The Mets were a respectable 3-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Entering the day they were 5-for-44 (.114) in such situations over their previous six games. The Mets scored three runs or fewer in each of their previous seven games.
“Guys, when they are going through stretches like this, they want to come through so bad,” Mendoza said. “At times it takes a little longer than we would like to. We came through today — Lindor with a homer, the first one in a while. This is very rare, but overall a good team win and now we get to go home and play against a good team.”
It was a road trip on which the Mets went 2-4, including a series loss to the Yankees. The schedule remains challenging, with the defending World Series champion Dodgers at Citi Field for three games beginning Friday.
Tylor Megill matched a career high with 10 strikeouts in limiting the Red Sox to one earned run on four hits and one walk over 4 ²/₃ innings. Megill was removed at 85 pitches, with the bases loaded in the fifth.
Soto struck out in all three of his plate appearances against Crochet. After taking six strikes on seven pitches in his first two at-bats, Soto swung and missed twice in striking out against Crochet a third time. Crochet was removed after his third strikeout of Soto. In the seventh after the Mets reloaded the bases following Baty’s big hit, Soto delivered a sacrifice fly.
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Baty stroked an RBI single in the second inning to produce the game’s first run. But Luis Torrens was thrown out at the plate, attempting to score from second on the play, ending the inning. Mark Vientos walked to begin the rally before Torrens smashed a double.
The Red Sox loaded the bases against Megill in the fifth and tied it 1-1 on Jarren Duran’s sacrifice fly to deep right. After Megill walked Rafael Devers to reload the bases, Huascar Brazobán was summoned from the bullpen. Alex Bregman took Brazobán to a ninth pitch before striking out on a full-count sinker.
“[Brazobán] has been killing it,” Megill said. “He’s a guy that we have been trusting in tight situations and he’s just coming out and filling the strike zone.”
The Mets loaded the bases in the seventh on consecutive singles from Torrens, Tyrone Taylor and Luisangel Acuña to begin the seventh.
Acuña’s speed turned his grounder into the shortstop hole into an infield hit. Baty followed with a single to left against lefty Brennan Bernardino that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead before Soto — after Lindor hit into a fielder’s choice and Marte walked — hit a shot to deep center for a sacrifice fly that brought in the fourth run.
“I think we have been hitting the ball hard the past couple of days, it just hasn’t been falling,” Baty said. “It was huge to go back in [the dugout] and have the excitement of the team. It felt like we were in a good spot right there.”
