FLUSHING, NY — Their first series sweep of the season in the books at Citi Field Thursday afternoon as the Mets took care of business in three games with the Detroit Tigers. In the finale on Thursday, the Mets played small ball, hit five home runs, and scored nine runs. Starting pitcher Nolan McLean tossed seven innings and earned the 9-4 win.
The month of May has no resemblance of their April disaster that put them in a deep hole, different team and a spark of their offense attributed to a baby Mets contingent. Carson Benge, Brett Baty, and A.J. Ewing (hitting his first career HR Thursday) were instrumental in one way or another with the sweep.
So what has been the difference? We know baseball is a long season of streaks, the Mets have had their share of losing more (18-25) and always manager Carlos Mendoza, job security a week ago in question repeatedly saying we need to fix this. David Stearns, the architect, pushed back queries about the manager.
But now as they get ready to host the Yankees for three beginning Friday evening, it’s wins and not losses. The Mets say all cylinders now are working, then again a series sweep against an injured and bad Tigers team is a start to boost morale and confidence.
Just a week ago, they were 11 games under .500 and are now seven games under, knocking at the door to get at that .500 mark. Get to .500 before Memorial Day, that’s when 30 teams have a better spin on a MLB season that currently is seeing plenty of mediocrity.
After a horrific stretch to make up the first quarter of the 2026 regular season (15-25), the Mets have started to dig themselves out of the hole they put themselves in (18-25) – Image Credit: Francisco Rodriguez/Latino Sports
Mendoza said with confidence “There’s a lot to like, we won in a lot of different ways. We swung the bat well, we created traffic, we ran the bases well. We got timely hitting, the pitching was outstanding.”
He said it was a complete series of top notch baseball. And it was good baseball from what has been often described as a horrific version of the 2026 Mets. But can this winning continue, enough to sustain a streak of wins for these Mets to climb the ladder and contend in a NL East that currently has the Atlanta Braves running away with the division?
It can be done, certainly the Mets with new faces and confronted with an injured plagued roster have the tools to continue this momentum. It’s early of course, as the calendar reaches mid May. Mendoza will stick with Ewing and Benge in the outfield, they are the future with Juan Soto joining them.
Soto appears to be getting out of his funk, his home run Thursday helped mark another multi-hit game.
Baty appears to be more comfortable with his swings, while Benge is on a tear with a .875 OPS in his last 19 games.
And Mark Vientos also, another two hits, one being his sixth home run of the season that was hit with two outs and one on in the sixth inning.
Now if Bo Bichette can become the contact hitter that goes with his reputation, and flashes of a good swing and production from Marucs Semien that showed in this series stay consistent, certainly there is reason to say the Mets are turning this around.
And if the Mets can get a healthy Francisco Lindor back in the lineup and catcher Francisco Álvarez, the two on that Injured List then of course winning can be sustained depending on their production. Also says the same for an injured Luis Robert Jr. and Jorge Polanco.
The pitching all along the team’s stretches of losses has managed to sustain some sense of being normal, posting a staff ERA of 3.75, ninth in MLB to pair with 406 strikeouts, third-most in the sport. Clay Holmes among league leaders in ERA (1.86) while McLean is fifth in strikeouts (64).
Nolan McLean tossed seven strong innings in Thursday’s win over Detroit with seven strikeouts to continue his campaign for the 2026 NL Rookie of the Year – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
But as one NL scout informed me this week, “It’s going to take a lot of winning and consistency.” He questioned though as to consistency being an issue and not so much relying on those Baby Mets as they are being called.
“What we want to do it’s right in front of us,” Soto said. “We’ve just got to go out there and do it.”
Mendoza also was encouraged how the Mets in the three games came back after trailing early. The Mets through their tough stretch would be down a few runs and the game was over. He said Benge and Ewing have brought that contagious attitude to the lineup.
After Carson Benge sent the Mets home with a walk-off win Wednesday, the 23-year-old rookie recorded two hits in Thursday’s win – Image Credit: George Napolitano/Latino Sports
“It’s good to see the guys fight back,” Mendoza said. We’ve been through a lot.” But winning changes the complexion, so does a series sweep. It’s sustaining that momentum and digging more out of the hole which will be determined.
But for now and regardless of their standing, the Mets feel they are not buried as many said they were.
Rich Mancuso is a senior writer and columnist at LatinoSports.com with coverage of MLB, boxing, and MLS – X:@Ring786, Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso
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