Mets push winning streak to six games with 14-2 rout of Rangers

ARLINGTON, Texas — They say everything is bigger in Texas. It proved to be true for the Mets‘ offense Monday night.

The Mets won their sixth straight with a 14-2 rout of the Texas Rangers at Globe Life Field in the opening game of a three-game set and a six-game road trip. They set a new season-high mark in hits with 22. Every member of the starting lineup recorded at least one, with the exception of Tyrone Taylor, who still reached base (hit by pitch).

Francisco Lindor recorded his fourth four-hit game of the season, going 4 for 4 with a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Brandon Nimmo went 3 for 4 with a two-run homer (his eighth of the season), four RBIs and two runs. Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez recorded three hits, and DJ Stewart went 2 for 6 with a three-run homer (No. 5 this season).

J.D. Martinez extended his on-base streak to 20 games, going 1 for 4 before the Mets pinch-hit for him with Luis Torrens.

The Mets (34-37) were relentless against the Rangers (33-39), chasing starter Jon Gray from the game after just three innings. Down 7-2 after the Mets scored one in the first inning and six in the second, the right-hander started the fourth before giving up a leadoff single to Lindor and a homer to Nimmo. Texas then went to right-hander Jonathan Hernandez, who struck out three, pitching around a single by Alonso.

But the Mets beat up on Hernandez as well, scoring twice in the fifth and once in the sixth before the Rangers finally pulled him with one on and two out. Right-hander Cole Winn was effective in mop-up duty in the seventh, but after the bottom of the Mets’ order produced two more runs in the top of the eighth, Texas decided to save its bullpen. They used catcher Andrew Knizner for the third out in the eighth and again in the ninth.

Left-hander David Peterson limited the Rangers to two earned runs on four hits over six innings. He walked three and struck out six in the win, his third of the season in only four starts (3-0). Right-hander Adam Ottavino threw two scoreless innings of relief and Drew Smith, who grew up near Fort Worth in a small town called Crowley and played college ball at Dallas Baptist University, pitched the ninth inning in front of a hometown crowd.

It was a true team win with contributions up and down the lineup and on the defensive side of the ball. The Mets are one win away from tying their early-season seven-game win streak, but comebacks and luck more than anything else characterized that streak. The length of the lineup is giving pitchers fits right now and the bullpen is locking down leads.

This is the type of baseball the Mets envisioned they would play with this roster.

Three former Mets watched from the home dugout: Outfielder Travis Jankowski and former aces Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom, the latter of which was so eager to leave New York as a free agent after the 2022 season. If ever the Mets were going to make a statement, this was as good of a time and place as any to make it.