The Mets have been a little uneven to start the 2026 campaign, putting it on Paul Skenes on Opening Day but struggling to hit in the subsequent games; before last night’s ten run breakout that is. The Mets kept the momentum going tonight, winning 9-0 over the Giants, with a funky lineup that lacked Juan Soto, Luis Robert Jr. or Francisco Alvarez. It also featured a starting outfield of Jared Young in left, Carson Benge in center, and Brett Baty in right, which is what you imagined coming into Spring
Training.
The Mets fifth win of the season was arguably their most complete, and that started with starting pitcher Clay Holmes. Holmes was excellent on the day, stymieing the Giants offense over seven scoreless innings. He only walked two, perhaps the most important part of his performance, considering walks have taken him out of games quicker than you would want from time to time. He only struck out four, but he was consistently around the strike zone, throwing 61 of his 90 pitches for strikes. The Giants simply could not square him up; according to the Statcast data, they did not barrel a single ball against him.
The offense did their fair share of the hard work, especially in the middle innings. They did get out to the 3-0 lead after the second inning, but it was more misplays by the Giants than anything else. A Mark Vientos double, Jared Young walk, and Marcus Semien infield single (that honestly probably should have been an out if Jerar Encarnacion was a more experienced first baseman) loaded the bases with one out in the aforementioned second inning. Carson Benge hit a weak ground ball to Literally Platinum Glover Matt Chapman, who failed to field the ball cleanly and subsequently threw it away, chasing two runs home. The next batter, Luis Torrens, grounded out productively, making it 3-0 without the ball leaving the infield.
Landon Roupp, despite the bad luck, looked pretty good for stretches of the game, generating ten whiffs and seven strikeouts. He kept the score 3-0 until the fifth inning, where the Mets got to him again. Torrens singled, was moved over to second on a Francisco Lindor ground out, and was driven home by Bo Bichette (who is still good at baseball despite the five game slump to open the season), making it 4-0. A Brett Baty single moved Bichette to second, and the red hot Vientos drove him home with a single of his own to make it 5-0, chasing Roupp from the game.
Left-hander Ryan Borucki came in, and Jared Young was lifted for Tyrone Taylor. Taylor rewarded the newly bespectacled Carlos Mendoza with an absolute rocket of a three-run home run, traveling 419 feet with a 105.1 exit velocity.
At 8-0, the game was elementary from there. Holmes coasted through the seventh inning, Taylor added a superfluous insurance run to make it 9-0, and Tobias Myers finished the game with two perfect innings. It was a wonderful performance all around.
The Mets next match up is a fun one, with Kodai Senga squaring off against Logan Webb in the final game of the series.
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Big Mets winner: Clay Holmes, +20.0% WPA
Big Mets loser: Francisco Lindor, -4.9% WPA
Mets pitchers: +20.1% WPA
Mets hitters: +29.9% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Carson Benge reaching on a fielding error in the second, +15.4% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Matt Chapman’s single in the bottom of the second. -5.8% WPA
