SAN FRANCISCO — Mark Vientos is hardly guaranteed playing time and will have to earn many of his at-bats this season.
Over the past four games he’s built up a decent amount of equity.
On Saturday, he had a second straight game of reaching base at least three times, helping lead a 9-0 rout of the Giants at Oracle Park.
The Mets hardly missed Juan Soto in winning their second straight. Soto, who departed Friday’s game in the first inning with a right calf strain that was deemed “minor” following an MRI, will rest until at least Tuesday — when a decision is likely on whether he will need an injured list stint.
Vientos is among those carrying the load. He was in the middle of two scoring rallies on this night and finished 3-for-5 in leading a 12-hit attack. Suddenly, the Mets scoring woes in six games that followed the season opener seem like 19th-century history.
“I think the best part is guys are going, we had a good day all of us together,” Vientos said. “Clay [Holmes] pitched a heck of a game, and it was fun today.”
It was just two weeks ago that Vientos was set to break camp with the team after going 2-for-35 (.057) in the Grapefruit League.
“We kept telling him in spring training, ‘Keep hitting the ball hard, keep controlling the strike zone,’” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “As a human, as a competitor, they want to see results. And it’s good to see him having the start that he’s having right now.”
Bolstering Vientos’ performance (he owns a 1.291 OPS) has been his respectable work at first base, a position he’s sharing as Jorge Polanco deals with left Achilles tendinitis.
Holmes handled much of the run prevention with seven shutout innings to follow the gem Nolan McLean produced a night earlier when the rookie carried a perfect game into the sixth before walking two batters and allowing a single.
Holmes allowed only three hits and walked two over the 90-pitch performance. It was a second straight strong outing for Holmes, who allowed two earned runs over 5 ²/₃ innings against the Cardinals on Monday.
“We have played a lot of extra-inning games, and the bullpen has been used a lot, so I was just trying to go fill it up,” Holmes said. “Go fill it up and once we got the lead see how many innings I could go to take some pressure off the guys.”
About the only semblance of trouble Holmes faced was in the second inning. Matt Chapman led off with an infield single, reaching second on Bo Bichette’s throwing error. But with help from Vientos, whose diving stop and toss to Holmes covering the bag produced the second out, Holmes kept a 3-0 lead intact.
“[Vientos] has been really good,” Holmes said referring to Vientos’ first base work. “He’s been putting in the work, we all see it as players. Just how badly he wants it.”
Carson Benge’s grounder to third base with the bases loaded in the second turned into two runs for the Mets. Chapman booted the ball before his throw to first baseman Jerar Encarnacion was mishandled for a second error on the play. Vientos and Jared Young raced home. The lead extended to 3-0 on Luis Torrens’ RBI groundout.
“We didn’t hit the ball out of the infield, but the fact we were able to put the ball in play there helped us,” Mendoza said. “Not only can we hit the ball out of the ballpark, but putting together some really good at-bats.”
Vientos doubled to begin the rally and Young walked before Semien’s infield single loaded the bases. It was the third straight game with at least one hit for Semien, who snapped an 0-for-20 drought Thursday.
Bichette’s RBI single in the fifth widened the lead to 4-0. Torrens singled leading off the inning and reached second on a groundout before Bichette delivered for a team-leading sixth RBI this season. Vientos, for his third hit in the game, stroked an RBI single in the inning to give the Mets their fifth run against Landon Roupp. After lefty Ryan Borucki entered, Tyrone Taylor was deployed as a pinch-hitter for Young and belted a three-run homer that buried the Giants in an 8-0 hole.
Taylor stroked an RBI single in the seventh that put the Mets ahead 9-0 following Brett Baty’s leadoff double.
