Mark Viento's slam catapults Mets to Game 2 win, tying NLCS vs. Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — The intentional walk was, when you think about it, appropriate. Two runners started in a one-run game. First base was open with two outs. Francisco Lindor, a potential MVP who had already hit a home run, was at bat. And yet Mark Vientos, who delivered the grand slam that set the tone Monday in the New York Mets' 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, said he “took it personally.”

If you ask Vientos' teammates, this reaction was also appropriate.

“My husband has a lot of confidence,” said Sean Manaea, the Mets’ winning pitcher. “I love that.”

Vientos' grand slam off Landon Knack, who was expected to do most of the work in a Dodgers-eligible bullpen game, capped a five-run second inning that helped the Mets win their first two games at Dodger Stadium in the evening split into a best-of-seven NLCS with three games at New York's Citi Field.

It was also the continuation of a miraculous run for Vientos – from an .820 OPS in the final four months of the regular season to the game-winning hit in the postseason opener, the game-winning single in Game 2 of the NL Division Series and, now, the big home run in a game the Mets desperately needed.

At 24 years, 308 days, Vientos became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in this round, just 49 days younger than Rafael Devers in 2021. Vientos' 11 RBIs are the most in Mets postseason history nine games by a player, along with John Olerud in 1999, Carlos Delgado in 2006 and Daniel Murphy in 2015. All told, Vientos is hitting .378/.410/.676 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in October.

And yet the most impressive thing about him might be this: an unheralded player who didn't have a job at the start of this season was insulted because an opposing team would push one of the game's best players in front of them.

“That’s him,” Lindor said of Vientos. “I’m glad he took it personally. He has to keep climbing.”

The Dodgers pitching staff entered Monday's game with a string of 33 consecutive scoreless innings, tied with the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the most innings in postseason history. Lindor put an end to that by throwing an eight-pitch at-bat against opener Ryan Brasier and capping it with a home run. The Mets continued to apply pressure in the next inning. Starling Marte led off with a single, Jesse Winker drew a walk and Tyrone Taylor hit an RBI double two batters later, putting runners on second and third and setting up Lindor's intentional walk.

Vientos felt ready.

“I want to be up there during this fight,” he said. “I want them to accompany Lindor in this situation and take me there. And at that point I just thought, 'Let me simplify the game, just make a run, make a walk – whatever I can do to add another run.' to the score.' And luckily I hit a bomb.

Vientos is navigating his first postseason, but his ability to simplify the shot — slowing his thoughts, staying calm and keeping his body under control — has caught the eye of those who have watched him closely. These qualities were shown again in his confrontation with Knack. Vientos took a ball on the first pitch and then fouled off two consecutive sliders. Knack used those throws to throw a high fastball and get a strikeout, but Vientos fouled the pitch back. He later took two sliders down and away “with ease,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

When he got another fastball — a pitch Vientos was hoping for but wasn't expecting — it landed right down the middle. Instead of aggressively trying to take the field, Vientos saw it deep in the zone and smashed it onto the opposing field, a 102 mph line drive that sneaked over the wall in right-center. According to ESPN Research, Vientos went deep on the offense's ninth throw, having seen the most throws before a grand slam in the last 50 postseasons.

“You haven’t seen a big turnaround,” Mendoza said. “It was, ‘Let me put it in play. Let me stay in the big part of the stadium.' And he was able to just go the other way the next time he hit a left-handed hitter and just shoot the ball the other way. This is not just a sign that he is a good batsman, is mature and under control. It doesn't matter what the situation is.

The same can be said about the 2024 Mets, who followed all three postseason losses with multiple wins.

Manaea, who changed his career by dropping his arm slot and hitting across his body, held the Dodgers to just one home run off Max Muncy in the first six innings, maintaining a large early lead. The Mets almost blew it in the seventh inning when Jose Iglesias and Pete Alonso misplayed groundballs, but Phil Maton got a red-hot Kiké Hernández to jump into an inning-ending double play, preserving a three-run lead . Ryne Stanek followed, then Edwin Diaz came in for the four-out save.

The Mets will now play three straight games at Citi Field.

In other words, they have a chance to clinch one of the most unlikely World Series berths in recent memory at home.

“Playing in front of the New York fans is the best,” Vientos said. “I’m looking forward to coming back.”