Mets hit three home runs, Manaea pitches well in win over Guardians

In their first game after selling a slew of players at the trade deadline, the Mets looked like a better baseball team than the Guardians, a team that entered the night in the final American League Wild Card spot. We know by now that the Mets are not the better of the two teams, but thanks to a very

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In their first game after selling a slew of players at the trade deadline, the Mets looked like a better baseball team than the Guardians, a team that entered the night in the final American League Wild Card spot. We know by now that the Mets are not the better of the two teams, but thanks to a very solid start by Sean Manaea and a trio of home runs by Mets hitters, it ended up being a fairly easy 6-2 win.

Manaea went six innings, struck out seven, walked five, allowed seven hits, and gave up two

runs, both of which were earned. It was his latest good start as he continues to pitch fairly well ever since rejoining the Mets’ rotation.

As for the Mets’ runs, most of them came while Manaea was in the game. Luis Torrens hit a three-run home run in the second, Bo Bichette hit a solo shot in the third, and Torrens singled in the Mets’ fifth run in the fourth.

The most heartwarming moment of the game came in the bottom of the seventh, as Nate Lavender made his major league debut—with the tying run at the plate—in relief of Daniel Duarte. Lavender struck out the first major league hitter he faced to end the inning. He stayed in the game to throw a scoreless eighth inning, too.

In the middle of Lavender’s outing, Carson Benge hit a bomb of a solo home run to left-center field. And Kodai Senga pitched the ninth, hitting the upper 90s with his fastball and putting up a scoreless inning with one walk and without any strikeouts.