Mark Vientos continued his scorching stretch at the plate as the New York Mets rallied late for a 3-1 extra-inning win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night at Chase Field. The Mets improved to 15-23 while the Diamondbacks fell to 17-20.
Vientos accounted for nearly all of New York’s offense, blasting a solo homer in the second inning before delivering the go-ahead RBI double in the 10th. His 401-foot shot off Ryne Nelson briefly tied the game at 1-1 and marked his fifth homer of the season.
Nolan McLean bounced back nicely after the shortest outing of his young career, allowing just one run over six innings. The rookie right-hander surrendered a leadoff homer in the second but settled in from there, scattering only two other hits while striking out six.
The Mets struggled to solve Nelson for most of the night as the Arizona right-hander retired 14 consecutive batters after allowing Vientos’ homer. Carson Benge finally ended the streak with a two-out walk in the seventh.
New York’s bullpen kept the game tied from there. Luke Weaver escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh, Brooks Raley worked a scoreless eighth and Devin Williams cruised through the ninth.
The Mets finally broke through in the 10th inning when Vientos lined a first-pitch double to bring home the automatic runner. Benge followed with a run-scoring ground-rule double to provide insurance.
Tobias Myers then closed the door in the bottom half for the first save of his career as the Mets improved to 5-2 on their nine-game road trip.
Luis Torrens also avoided injury after taking a 97 mph foul ball directly off his catcher’s mask in the seventh inning but remained in the game.
The Mets continue their series against Arizona on Saturday at 7:15 p.m. Clay Holmes will start for New York against Merrill Kelly.
Kyle leads sports coverage and hosts the Concrete Jungle podcast. Have a lead or question? Send it to [email protected].