NEW YORK — Mark Vientos blooped a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning, and the New York Mets snapped their 12-game losing streak on Wednesday night, beating the Minnesota Twins 3-2 after getting one superstar back only to see another exit with a similar injury.
Juan Soto went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk in his return from a strained right calf, but shortstop Francisco Lindor was removed with left calf tightness after laboring around the bases while scoring from first on Francisco Alvarez’s go-ahead double in the fourth.
Byron Buxton tied it 2-all with a leadoff homer in the sixth against Clay Holmes, his second long ball in two nights.
Brett Baty, who came off the bench to replace Lindor in the lineup, drew his second walk of the game with two outs in the eighth against Taylor Rogers (0-1). Alvarez coaxed a nine-pitch walk from Justin Topa before Vientos dumped an RBI single into shallow right field. Vientos had blatantly ran through a stop sign rounding third and was easily thrown out at home plate for the final out of the sixth.
Luke Weaver (2-0) retired Luke Keaschall with the bases loaded to end the top of the eighth and struck out three batters in a one-hit ninth to secure New York’s first victory since April 7 at home against Arizona.
The 12-game skid was the team’s longest since August 2002.
Connor Prielipp, the Twins’ top pitching prospect, needed 82 pitches to get through four innings in his major league debut. But the 25-year-old left-hander showcased a good slider and limited a slumping New York lineup to two runs and four hits with six strikeouts and no walks.
Holmes allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.
Batting cleanup, Lindor drove in a run by legging out an infield single with two outs in the first, and Victor Caratini’s sacrifice fly tied the score in the fourth.
Diamondbacks 11, White Sox 7
PHOENIX, Arizona — Ildemaro Vargas hit two homers and had five RBIs, Nolan Arenado added a two-run shot, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-7, on Wednesday night.
Vargas hit two homers in a game for just the second time in his 10-year big league career. Arenado finished with four hits and three RBIs. Geraldo Perdomo and Corbin Carroll both had three hits.
The D-backs had three triples and three homers for just the third time in franchise history, which started in 1998.
Chicago’s Munetaka Murakami homered in his fifth straight game, hitting a two-run shot in the seventh to tie a Major League Baseball (MLB) rookie record.
The D-backs trailed 2-0 after one inning but rallied for a 4-2 lead in the second after Vargas crushed a three-run homer that landed deep in the left field seats. Carroll added an RBI single. Vargas has hit safety in all 17 games this year, which is the longest streak to start a season in franchise history.
He has a 20-game hitting streak dating to last season, which is currently the longest in the big leagues. The first baseman hit a two-run homer in the third.
Chicago’s Miguel Vargas cut the deficit to 4-3 in the third with a solo homer that flew 428 feet, clearing the fence at the deepest part of Chase Field in left center. Colson Montgomery also hit a solo homer. AP