Mark Vientos went from goat to hero in a matter of two innings in the Mets’ 3-2 win over the Twins on Wednesday night that ended a 12-game losing streak.
First, Vientos made an eye-popping baserunning mistake, running through third base coach Tim Leiper’s stop sign on a Marcus Semien double to the gap in the sixth inning of a tie game.
He was thrown out by a considerable margin to end the inning.
But in the bottom of the eighth, Vientos delivered the go-ahead single, a flare to right that scored Brett Baty.
“I’m glad he got that hit,’’ Carlos Mendoza said with a smile.
Vientos made no apologies for his gaffe on the bases.
“My instinct was once the ball was off the wall, I was gonna score,’’ Vientos said.
Vientos, part of a lineup that has floundered for much of the season, said he saw Leiper put up the stop sign but ignored it.
“We want to make the right play, but I’m always gonna be aggressive,’’ Vientos said. “I’m not gonna play passive on the field. I’d rather make a mistake aggressively than [passively].’’
After flopping as the closer for the Yankees a year ago, Devin Williams looks to be doing the same thing on the other side of town this season.
But even after a three-appearance stretch in which he allowed seven runs, four walks and six hits in just 1 ¹/₃ innings while blowing a save and taking the loss in another, Mendoza said Wednesday he is not considering pulling Williams from the role.
“I know he’s going through it right now, but as I’m sitting here, we haven’t had that discussion,’’ Mendoza said prior to the Mets win.
Williams, who had pitched twice in three days, was unavailable Wednesday, so Luke Weaver got the final four outs.
Asked why he remains confident that Williams — who was pulled from the ninth-inning job in late April with the Yankees and then again in August — can overcome his current struggles, Mendoza said, “He’s done it before.”
Still, after Williams was yanked as closer in the second half of last season and had some success in a setup role, he didn’t get it back.
But Mendoza hasn’t given up on Williams, who signed a three-year, $51 million deal in the offseason even after his rough showing in The Bronx.
“It’s the nature of the business,’’ Mendoza said of Williams’ recent poor results. “You’re gonna go through stretches when it’s hard and you find a way to get back on track. There’s gonna be adversity, [there’s] gonna be stretches you’re not at your best and he’s done that before a few times. That’s what gives me confidence he’ll get there again.”
A.J. Minter continued his rehab assignment Wednesday with his first appearance with Triple-A Syracuse, as the lefty comes back from lat surgery that cost him most of 2025.
He allowed three hits and a run in his one inning and didn’t strike out or walk any batters.
Mendoza said Tuesday that the 32-year-old would likely need two more weeks of rehab games to get accustomed to pitching on back-to-back days again.
Austin Warren was still stunned Wednesday about the odd reaction he got from the small number of fans that remained at Citi Field in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s loss, when the right-hander replaced Williams with the bases loaded and left them stranded by striking out the next three batters.
The crowd repeatedly chanted “MVP” as Warren piled up the strikeouts and kept it a two-run game.
“I was absolutely [surprised],’’ Warren said. “I’m sure everyone heard all the boos and I’m glad I could go in there and flip the switch a little bit and keep them on our side.”
The cheers began as soon as the threw a strike to Royce Lewis.
“I was like, ‘What’s going on?’’ Warren said. “I’m glad it went well and I could strand runners for Devin.”
The 30-year-old right-hander is in his second year with the Mets after being claimed off waivers from the Giants prior to last season.
“I feel I proved some people wrong with that kind of game,’’ Warren said. “I’ve always been an up-and-down [to the minors] guy since my debut. It sucks losing, but it feels good to do that.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
