LOS ANGELES — Mark Vientos certainly hasn’t let the magnitude of October baseball overwhelm him.
If anything the Mets third baseman — in his first postseason — has embraced the pressure, helping carry a good but not great lineup that can use every big hit possible.
On Monday, with the Mets in need of a victory ahead of their 2,500-mile voyage home, Vientos delivered early against the Dodgers and allowed his teammates to exhale later. The Mets got the cushion they wanted with Vientos’ second-inning grand slam and held on for a 7-3 victory in Game 2 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium.
Capitalizing on a Dodgers bullpen game (which allowed extra rest for Walker Buehler) the Mets inflicted their damage in the first two innings and let Sean Manaea and the bullpen handle the rest. The Mets left town with the series tied 1-1 and can now look toward three straight sellouts at Citi Field beginning Wednesday with Game 3.
Vientos showed his mettle through the regular season and again in the first two rounds of the playoffs, producing a 1.037 OPS in his first eight games. That included a game-tying homer in the ninth inning of Game 2 in the NLDS in Philadelphia.
The Mets welcomed Vientos’ early haymaker a day after the team managed only three hits in a 9-0 loss. The Game 1 setback marked the first time this postseason the Mets fell behind in a series.
Francisco Lindor punctuated an eight-pitch at-bat against Ryan Brasier with a homer to right field leading off the game. It was the second homer in three games for Lindor, whose grand slam last Wednesday carried the Mets to victory in Game 4 of the NLDS. Lindor’s homer on this day ended the Dodgers’ scoreless streak at 33 innings. The streak tied the postseason record established by the 1966 Orioles (all of which occurred in the World Series against the Dodgers).
The Mets jumped all over Landon Knack in the second. Starling Marte singled leading off the inning and Jesse Winker walked. Tyrone Taylor’s RBI double with one out extended the Mets’ lead to 2-0. After Francisco Alvarez was retired, Lindor received an intentional walk and Vientos worked nine pitches deep into his at-bat, blasting a 95-mph fastball over the fence in right-center for a grand slam.
Manaea allowed two base runners in the second and fell behind 2-0 to Andy Pages with Shohei Ohtani on deck, but rebounded to strike out the Dodgers’ No. 9 hitter.
Manaea didn’t dent until the fifth, when Max Muncy cleared the right-field fence to pull the Dodgers within 6-1. It was only the second hit allowed by Manaea, who also dominated the Phillies in his start in Game 3 of the NLDS last week.
It got interesting in the sixth. Manaea walked Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernandez in succession before Jose Iglesias booted Freddie Freeman’s grounder to load the bases. Phil Maton entered and allowed a ground ball single under diving Pete Alonso’s glove that brought in two runs. Maton escaped by getting Kiké Hernandez to hit into a double play with the bases loaded.
Manaea allowed three earned runs on two hits and four walks over five innings.
Ryne Stanek replaced Maton in the seventh after he had walked Ohtani and struck out Betts before retiring Teoscar Hernandez to keep the Mets’ 6-3 lead intact.
After Stanek allowed a single and walk in the eighth, Edwin Diaz was summoned and recorded the final out.
Starling Marte grounded an RBI single in the ninth after Alonso had walked and stolen second, extending the Mets’ lead to 7-3.
Diaz allowed a single and walk in the ninth before striking out Betts, Hernandez and Freeman to end it.