This seesaw Mets season moved back toward its pinnacle Thursday.
Homers flying in every direction, Marcus Stroman finally delivering, a four-game sweep of a fellow wild-card contender. The Mets couldn’t ask for more as they await the NL’s best team for a weekend series at Citi Field.
Exhibit A that maybe the Mets’ fortunes have turned for good toward a postseason berth: Juan Lagares hadn’t hit a grand slam in his career or finished with two homers in a game, but both were achieved in the Mets’ 11-1 demolition of the Diamondbacks.
“It speaks to the way we’re playing right now,” Michael Conforto said of Lagares’ surprise outburst. “We’re not playing uptight in a situation where we could be. We’re having fun, we’re enjoying ourselves.”
The Mets (76-70) blasted six homers (a franchise record for a home game) in completing the sweep of Arizona, which arrived here among the hottest teams in baseball. The Mets remained two games behind the Brewers and Cubs in the race for the NL’s second wild card.
Now come the Dodgers, who have already clinched the NL West, with studs Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu and Walker Buehler set to face the Mets over the next three days. The Mets have Noah Syndergaard, Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler aligned for the Dodgers.
“We have our hands full,” manager Mickey Callaway said, referring to the Dodgers starting pitchers. “And [the Dodgers] have their hands full in who they drew as far as starters, so we have to go out there and play like we did in this series. We have to play good defense, we have to make the right decisions, we have to be aggressive, get timely hits and we need our bullpen and starters to perform.”
Callaway noted the importance of having his bullpen rested — Seth Lugo wasn’t used in the final three games against the Diamondbacks and Justin Wilson received the last two days off — with the Dodgers arriving. Wilson Ramos and Jeff McNeil were also on the bench Thursday for rest. A night earlier Callaway rested Conforto and Robinson Cano and the Mets still rolled to victory.
“Everybody is pretty well-rested, guys are performing and a different guy is stepping up every day,” Callaway said. “This is kind of the formula we had when we made that (15-1) run, where it’s a different guy every day stepping up. It’s not just two guys carrying you and that allows you to prolong something, so hopefully we can continue to do that and continue to make a run.”
Todd Frazier, Tomas Nido, Cano and Conforto also homered. Frazier’s blast gave him three in the last two games to continue a surge that began Tuesday when the veteran third baseman drove in all of the Mets’ runs in a 3-2 victory.
With 114 homers this season at Citi Field, the Mets established a single-season franchise record at home.Stroman pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in eight starts since joining the Mets. The right-hander left to an ovation on a day he lasted 6 ¹/₃ innings and allowed one earned run on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Stroman’s only other quality start with the Mets came in Philadelphia on Sept. 1, when he allowed two runs over six innings in a no-decision.
Lagares’ grand slam against Alex Young in the third gave the Mets a 6-0 lead after J.D. Davis had delivered an RBI single in the inning. Frazier had homered leading off the second for the game’s first run.
“Every time I have an opportunity to be out there I try to do my best,” said Lagares, whose six RBIs were a career high.
In the fifth, Cano homered for the ninth time in 28 games since the All-Star break before Lagares smashed a two-run homer and Nido followed with a solo blast. With a 10-run lead, Callaway began pulling starters, allowing Davis, Frazier and Cano to rest for the final few innings. Conforto’s blast in the seventh provided the Mets’ final run, giving the outfielder 30 homers in a season for the first time in his career.
“It’s something I have been flirting with for the last couple of years and I felt like I was going to get there in 2017, and last year I made a push,” Conforto said. “It’s all about winning games right now, but it’s a milestone and something I have been working toward. I am happy to get it out of the way and just play ball now.”
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