LOS ANGELES — Mark Vientos was made for this moment.
With the bases loaded and two out in the second inning, Vientos, the Mets’ almost 25-year-old third baseman playing in his first postseason, fought to keep the inning alive. Facing Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Landon Knack, Vientos battled, fouling off four pitches and laying off four outside the zone. With the count full, Knack had to go to his fastball, and he left a 95 MPH four-seamer right over the plate.
Vientos drove it into the right field seats for a grand slam that led the Mets to a 7-3 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. The two teams are tied 1-1 in the best-of-seven series, with the next three games taking place at Citi Field.
When Knack intentionally walked Francisco Lindor ahead of him, Vientos wanted the Dodgers to know it was a mistake.
“I took it personal,” Vientos said. “I mean, I want to be up there during that at-bat for sure. I want them to walk Lindor in that situation [and] put me up there. At that point I was just, let me simplify the game, just get one run in, get a walk — whatever I can do to add another run to the score…
“Luckily, I hit a bomb there and it went over the fence.”
A historic place and a hostile crowd intimidating for young players with little playoff experience. Moments might become too big. But not for Vientos, who went 2-for-5 for his sixth multi-hit game in the postseason, tied for the most in team history with Todd Zeile (2000) and John Olerud (1999).
“There’s one thing that Mark doesn’t lack and that’s confidence,” Lindor said. “He’s a very confident baseball player. He stays within himself and he doesn’t back down from any challenges that get thrown his way.”
Later, after the Dodgers rallied for three runs in the bottom of the sixth, he started a clutch 5-4-3 double play to end the inning after bobbling the ball on the exchange.
Unfadable, so please don’t try to faze him.
The Mets took a 6-0 lead on Los Angeles over the first two innings, with Francisco Lindor opening the game with a home run off right-hander Ryan Brasier. The Mets went up 2-0 in the second inning after Tyrone Taylor, an area local who grew up nearby in Torrance, hit a one-out RBI double off Knack. Lindor was intentionally walked to bring up Vientos, who gave the Mets a 6-0 lead.
“I didn’t think he was going to give me a fastball,” Veintos said. “That was my approach was to see a heater up, but I wasn’t expecting heater. I thought I was going to get like a slider and I was just going to poke it in the hole or something.”
Sean Manaea tossed four scoreless innings before giving up a leadoff homer to Max Muncy in the bottom of the fifth. He looked like an ace until the sixth when the Dodgers rallied for two, which was quite a contrast from the pitching performance of the home team. The Dodgers threw a bullpen game, using five relievers to cover 27 outs.
Manaea allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits, walked four and struck out seven.
“He was not only getting ahead but staying on the attack,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “Like perfect example, the way he went after [Shohei] Ohtani the first couple of at-bats.”
Ohtani went 0-for-3 against Manaea, striking out twice.
“The way he swung for strike three the second at-bat, it was, like, ‘Man, he’s having a hard time seeing him,” Mendoza said. “I don’t think you’ve seen Ohtani look that way too often.”
The Mets stranded six runners through the third, fourth and fifth innings, which nearly came back to haunt them when Los Angeles got back into the game in the sixth. It was tense from there.
Manaea loaded the bases to start the inning. Right-hander Phil Maton got the first out before giving up a two-run single to Tommy Edman, who hit a hard ground ball right past a diving Pete Alonso. He walked Muncy, but then Vientos started that double play and Jose Iglesias made a tough turn at second base to end the inning.
“It’s a really fast field here, and he did a really good job recovering from the initial bobble and it was a great turn by Iggy,” Maton said. “Just textbook. They did a great job.”
The Mets stranded two more in the seventh and eighth innings, and again, had to hold off the Dodgers in the bottom of the eighth. Mendoza played the pitching matchups perfectly, using right-hander Ryne Stanek for two outs in the seventh and closer Edwin Diaz to get the third out in the eighth.
Finally, in the eighth, Starling Marte sent a single up the middle to score Pete Alonso from second base. Alonso came home head first, barely beating the tag.
Again, Edwin Diaz put runners on in the ninth, putting two on before striking out the heart of the order, getting Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman swinging.
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