The Mets struck back against Austin Adams.
But more importantly, the Mets just scored.
Carlos Mendoza’s team turned 11 hits and two home runs into nine runs – four more than they had scored during their four-game losing streak – and ended that losing streak on Wednesday with a convincing 9-1 victory over the A’s in front of 28,288 spectators at Citi Field.
The Mets had not won – or even had a lead – since Thursday in Colorado and were in danger of repeating their longest losing streak of the season.
Instead, a team that had been outscored 31-5 in four games came back and got revenge, thanks in large part to the bats of Pete Alonso and Francisco Lindor.
Angry at Adams, a veteran A’s relief pitcher who escaped danger on Tuesday and used the Mets’ arm-raising “OMG” gesture against them, the Mets scored three runs in the first four innings, including a telling look from Lindor in Adams’ direction, and pulled away with a six-run seventh.
The Mets took the lead in the second when Mark Vientos hit an RBI double under the glove of third baseman Darell Hernaiz.
The Mets struck back at Adams in the third inning when Lindor took a fastball from Joey Estes and blasted his 100th home run as a Met to right.
As he approached second base, he stole a glance toward the opposing bullpen, raised both arms in the air, and shook them, a dance move he hoped would send a message.
The Mets took control in the fourth when Alonso hit an Estes sweeper deep into the left field seats for his 26th home run of the year.
And in the seventh, the Mets took over.
Alonso, who had gone 1-for-16 with nine strikeouts during the four-game losing streak, hit a two-run double for his fourth hit of the night (in four at-bats).
In total, the Mets sent ten batters to the plate in this inning. It started with consecutive walks for Vientos, Ben Gamel and Francisco Alvarez before Lindor (2-for-5 with the home run and two RBIs) hit an RBI single.
Gamel scored on a wild pitch, Alvarez on a sacrifice fly by Brandon Nimmo and Lindor on a double by JD Martinez in the kind of inning the Mets (62-58) had been waiting for nearly a week.
If there was a disappointment on Wednesday, it was Adams, a sudden enemy of Queens, who stayed in the bullpen the entire game.
David Peterson – who was on the mound for the Mets’ last win and then watched Jose Quintana, Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Paul Blackburn get destroyed for 19 runs in 18 ²/₃ innings – pitched superbly over 6 ¹/₃ innings, allowing just one unearned run and lowering his ERA to 3.04.
Huascar Brazoban, Danny Young and Adam Ottavino completed the win, which put the Mets 1 ½ games behind the Braves in the wild-card race, who were scheduled to play late Wednesday.
