From the in-house DJ to the flashing lights and the large crowd on its feet for much of the evening, Citi Field felt like one big party Friday night.
Jose Iglesias’ hit song, “OMG,” kept being played after each of the Mets’ five home runs, and the home team was unrelenting in its assault on the worst pitching staff in baseball by ERA. There were chants of “Let’s go Grimace” and an ovation for Sean Manaea when the left-hander walked off the mound after another strong performance was in the books.
Everything is going right in Queens at the moment — except for the bullpen, which nearly flushed a five-run lead.
From the time the Mets went deep three times in eight pitches in an electric second inning to go ahead, the result never really seemed in doubt. It really hasn’t been, for that matter, in any of their four wins during this dominant homestand — the Mets have now outscored the Nationals and Rockies 27-13 since Tuesday.
The Mets mashed their way past the woeful Rockies, 7-6, in front of 28,852 at Citi Field, winning their fourth straight game and sixth in seven tries. Harrison Bader and Iglesias each went deep twice, Mark Vientos homered and doubled and Manaea went seven innings for the win, sending the Mets to their 24th victory in 34 games. They can equal their high-water mark of the season of four games over .500 on Saturday, initially set way back on April 20.
Jake Diekman and newcomer Phil Maton combined to allow three runs and two homers in the eighth, but Edwin Diaz worked a scoreless ninth for his 10th save. Of the 13 runs the Mets have allowed on this homestand, eight have been given up by the beleaguered bullpen in just 10 ²/₃ innings of work.
Most impressive about the latest offensive display was that the big four of Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, J.D. Martinez and Pete Alonso were quiet, accounting for two singles between them. But this lineup can now hurt the opposition from all over. Iglesias, the 34-year-old fan favorite who has become a key part of this team, homered twice in the same game for the first time in his 12-year big league career. Bader did so for just the second time.
After an uneven 4-4 road trip in which the offense ran hot and cold, it has returned to form. In four games at home, the Mets are averaging 7.2 runs and have 18 extra-base hits.
In the span of eight pitches in the second inning, the Mets eliminated a two-run deficit. Vientos got the good vibes — and the large crowd — going with a 408-foot blast into the seats in left-center field for his 12th home run of the season. Iglesias followed two pitches later with a homer of his own, and after Jeff McNeil was retired on a 104.8 mph line drive, Bader went yard for the first time since June 26.
An inning later, Francisco Alvarez and Vientos both doubled with two outs, extending the lead to 4-2. Vientos’ run-scoring double, ripped down the left-field line, was his fourth extra-base hit in the past three games. He had just one in the previous seven contests. In the fourth, Bader made it 6-2, crushing a hanging slider at 106.7 mph. The homer was his eighth, surpassing his 2023 total of seven.
Manaea settled down nicely after allowing a two-run homer to Michael Toglia in the second. The left-hander retired 11 of the next 13 batters he faced, improving to 3-0 with a 2.01 ERA over his last six starts. In that span, the veteran has struck out 34 hitters across 35 ²/₃ innings. The Mets have won five of those six outings.