From a perspective of Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, it’s good starting pitching, timely hitting, and a bullpen that throws strikes. His team continued that consistency Saturday against the Reds at Citi Field as the Mets’ 4-0 win extended their winning streak to nine games, their longest since April of 2018.
The Mets will attempt to take their third consecutive three-game series sweep Sunday afternoon. They’re a team with momentum during this stretch of September and they are now in sole possession of the third National League wild card after the Braves loss Saturday evening to the Blue Jays.
Though they are aiming for more and why not? Winning with consistency as the Mets take care of business has them a half game from Arizona for the second wild card and 2 games from the top where the Padres have the lead. Is it unrealistic for the Mets to catch the Phillies in the NL East? They trail by seven and they travel to Philadelphia next week for three games.
In the meantime the Mets refuse to lose. Their mentality is to win and contributions come from the entire roster. It’s not just Francisco Lindor or Mark Vientos, who hit the walk-off extra inning home run for the win Friday night.
This time it was Jose Quintana. He earned his 100th career win, a first for a native of Colombia. It was a Harrison Bader home run in the Mets four-run sixth. It was the bullpen that secured the seventh team shutout of the season.
Bader was 2-for-43 before the home run, his fifth of the season and first time to the opposite field. The Mets are getting contributions from up and down the roster and Bader is the latest to keep the Mets streak going with this momentum in September. So it is not just Lindor who saw his career-high 16-game hitting streak stopped, although he extended his on base streak to 36 straight games. You talk to this Mets team and they never lost hope when they could not find a way to win before their turnaround in June. Mendoza always believed this team had the ability to compete for something in September and it has been better than expected.
“It feels like it’s a different guy every day, and that’s what good teams do,” Mendoza said. “We’re doing that right now. Every day, the 28 guys that we got in there, they know that they have an opportunity to impact the game in a positive way and they’re doing that.”
Bader has been getting that opportunity in the lineup and was persistent to be one of those contributors. Mendoza stuck with his player and he was persistent, then again timely hits have been a part of this Mets streak, so it was a matter of time.
“I think it was certainly a second of relief because at the end of the day, it comes from just wanting to produce so intensely for your team.” Bader said. “With what we got going on here, playing meaningful baseball in September, this is so far beyond any individual regardless of what my numbers might be in the past 40-50 at-bats.”
Regardless, baseball is that complicated game or is it? There comes a time when streaks end, but the Mets are not concerned about setting records, though extending a winning streak Sunday before heading up to Toronto will continue that momentum.
Bader went opposite field against a left-hander who was supposed to go four innings as the Reds decided again to have that bullpen game. Jakob Junis, though, had other ideas and allowed one hit a fifth-inning double from Jose Iglesias.
Iglesias will be the new double-play combination with Lindor during this stretch with Jeff McNeil sustaining a fracture of his right wrist after getting hit with a curveball Friday night. The two paired up well on two double play balls in the second and third innings. Iglesias made a diving stop that started a DP in the second and Lindor initiated the 6-4-3 going in the hole on a grounder in the third. The plays caught the attention of Quintana, who was throwing strikes and has given up one or fewer earned runs in each of his last four starts.
“It was amazing, amazing,” Quintana said about the plays. He allowed five hits and struck out six, also getting the attention of his manager.
He’s done it for a long time in his career,” Mendoza said about Quintana and his accomplishment of being the sixth active player to achieve 100 plus wins and making adjustments after a rough first half of the season. “That goes to show you his ability to make adjustments, stay consistent and believe in himself. He was huge for us.”
And another huge win for the Mets as consistency continues.
Rich Mancuso: X (Twitter) @Ring786 Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso