With the Mets’ offense in a tailspin, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza finally gave Brett Baty some run against left-handed pitching, and it paid off.
The left-handed Baty drove in the Mets’ first three runs of Wednesday night’s 5-1 win over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park to avoid a sweep and snap a three-game losing streak in which New York scored just three combined runs.
In just his eighth at-bat against a lefty this season, which came against Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet, Baty knocked a two-out single to center field to bring in the game’s opening run. The Mets had gone 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in the game’s first 1.2 innings.
In the seventh, with the game tied at one with the bases loaded and none out against lefty reliever Brennan Bernadino, Baty went the other way to score two more.
“That’s really good to see,” Mendoza said. “Especially the at-bats against Crochet. The first one picking us up big time after second and third, nobody out. Then two pitches, two outs there…
“That one in the seventh, I think it was staying in there, going the other way, and coming through big time. It’s just really good to see one of your young players perform and continue to play with confidence.”
Baty continues to answer the bell in his second chance this season. He was demoted to Triple-A on April 24 after Jeff McNeil’s return from the IL, but got the call to return to the big leagues two weeks later after Jesse Winker suffered an oblique injury.
In 13 games since, he has an .833 OPS with four home runs and 10 RBI.
“There’s something about the way he’s carrying himself on and off the field, in the clubhouse, the way he prepares,” Mendoza said while assessing the difference in this version of Baty. “That’s what you want to see out of everyone, especially young players.”
This current spell is the first real indication that the 25-year-old can cut it in the majors after riding the carousel to and from Triple-A for three years.
“I’m just trying to come in and be a good player for the New York Mets and just hit the ball hard, play good defense, and try to help the team win,” Baty said.
He’s doing just that.
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