Christian Scott earns first win on day Mets honor illustrious parts of its past
· Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK — The New York Mets may not have been able to figure out the Miami Marlins last weekend in Miami, but on a day when the club honored two of the more illustrious parts of its past, the present team finally managed to spear the Fish.
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Mark Vientos hit a two-run double in the fourth inning to help the Mets to a 6-1 victory over the Marlins on Saturday at Citi Field, and their first series win in two weeks. Right-hander Christian Scott earned his first Major League win on the mound, and his longtime catcher, Hayden Senger, hit his first big league home run.
They can avenge last weekend’s sweep in Miami with a win Sunday afternoon.
It was nothing flashy, but it was a complete team win with solid defense, timely hitting and excellent pitching.
“I’m glad that we were able to play a good game for the crowd and for the celebration,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “It’s a special day for all of us.”
Maybe it’s because the 2026 team wasn’t even the main attraction of the day — Bobby Valentine and Lee Mazzilli were the headliners, being inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in a pregame ceremony. With several members of the 2001 NL pennant-winning team and the 1986 World Series team in attendance, a win felt important, though not guaranteed.
The club is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its last World Series title all season long, and it’s the last season longtime play-by-play voice Howie Rose will call games on the radio. Yet, there hasn’t been much to celebrate this year.
The Mets are currently in last place in the NL East and own one of the worst records in baseball (25-33), despite having one of the highest payrolls. Injuries have hit the team hard, taking out stars like Francisco Lindor, and the fanbase has turned on president of baseball operations David Stearns, and Mendoza.
Count Valentine among the Stearns detractors. The former manager used the executive’s offseason buzz-phrase “run prevention” to take a jab at him during his press conference Saturday afternoon.
But count Mazzilli as a fan of Stearns. The World Series-winning outfielder acknowledged the embattled skipper during his on-field speech.
“To Carlos Mendoza,” Mazzilli said as he looked at the manager, seated in the same row as his family, next to owner Steve Cohen. “You got this.”
“It means a lot,” Mendoza said. “I consider him a friend. I get text messages from him, he stops by all of the time. Once a homestead, he’s in the office … For him to say that, it’s just nice.”
Stearns was not on the field.
Vientos went 1 for 4 with a double, two RBI and a run scored. After taking the double off right-hander Tyler Phillips (0-1), he scored on a single up the center by Marcus Semien. The veteran second baseman went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Carson Benge had three hits, two of which were doubles, and Jared Young and Senger each homered.
Young, who returned to play this week after an early-season knee injury, hit his first of the season off right-hander Lake Bachar to lead off the sixth. Senger’s first career shot also came off Bacher, this one in the bottom of the seventh.
The two teams went scoreless for the first 3 1/2 innings. Scott wasn’t exceptionally efficient with his pitches, throwing 96 over only five innings, but that can be the case when a pitcher is getting a lot of swings and misses. The sweeper was especially effective at missing bats, as was his four-seam fastball. Six of Scott’s eight strikeouts came off one of those two pitches.
“Fastball command and the sweeper command were huge for me today, especially against the lefties,” Scott said. “Going back to that pitch pretty consistently was big for me today, and just being able to get ahead of hitters, and [make] putaway pitches with guys on base. They made me work, for sure, so credit goes to them.”
The Mets had another pitcher up in the bullpen in the top of the fourth. Scott had just allowed a run, and had a runner on first with two outs. Otto Lopez hit one into the right-center gap that would have gone for extra bases had A.J. Ewing not been able to track it down for a highlight-reel catch on the run.
Scott held the Marlins (26-33) to one run over five innings, receiving his first win in his 15th Major League start (1-0). Having missed last season to rehab from Tommy John surgery, this win was a little more meaningful.
“It was awesome,” Scott said. “Took longer than I would expect or would want, but it’s great to have my first one.”
It was even better that his milestone came in the same game as Senger’s. The two longtime batterymates embraced near the dugout steps after the game, congratulating one another.
“I kind of thought we would do it together,” Senger said. “I just kind of had a feeling, but to have had it actually come to fruition is really cool.”
The bullpen did its job to close out the game, and Mets of the past, present and future came together to remind everyone in Flushing what winning baseball looks like.
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