Slighted by IBB, Vientos’ slam helps Mets get even
-
Alden Gonzalez, ESPN Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES — The intentional walk, if you think about it, was appropriate. Two runners were on in a two-run game. First base was open with two outs. Francisco Lindor, a potential MVP who had already homered, was up to bat. And yet Mark Vientos, who would deliver the grand slam that set the tone in the New York Mets‘ 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series on Monday, said he “took it personal.”
That reaction, if you ask Vientos’ teammates, was also appropriate.
“My man’s got a lot of confidence in himself,” 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 what qualified as a bullpen game for the Dodgers, capped a five-run second inning that helped the Mets split the first two games from Dodger Stadium, evening the best-of-seven NLCS with three games from New York’s Citi Field on tap.
It was also the continuation of a miraculous run for Vientos — from an .820 OPS over the regular season’s last four months to the game-winning hit in the postseason opener, the game-tying single in Game 1 of the NL Division Series and, now, the big home run in a game the Mets desperately needed.
At 24 years and 308 days old, Vientos became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in the history of this round, a mere 49 days younger than Rafael Devers in 2021. Vientos’ 11 RBIs are tied for the most in Mets postseason history through a player’s first nine games, along with John Olerud in 1999, Carlos Delgado in 2006 and Daniel Murphy in 2015. All told, Vientos is slashing .378/.410/.676 with three home runs in October.
And yet the most impressive thing about him might be this: An unheralded player who didn’t have a job early this season was insulted that an opposing team would walk one of the game’s best players ahead of him.
“That’s who he is,” Lindor said of Vientos. “I’m glad he took it personal. He’s got to continue to climb.”
The Dodgers’ pitching staff entered Monday’s game on a string of 33 consecutive scoreless innings, tied with the 1966 Baltimore Orioles for the most in postseason history. Lindor put an end to that by working an eight-pitch at-bat against opener Ryan Brasier and finishing it with a leadoff homer. The Mets continued to apply pressure in the next inning. Starling Marte started with a single, Jesse Winker drew a walk and Tyrone Taylor came up with 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 that at-bat,” he said. “I want them to walk Lindor in that situation, put me up there. And at that point I was just, ‘Let me simplify the game, just get one run in, get a walk — whatever I can do to add another run to the score.’ And luckily I hit a bomb.”
Vientos is navigating through his first postseason, but his ability to simplify at-bats — to slow his thoughts, remain calm, keep his body under control — has stood out to those who have watched him closely. Those traits showed again in his confrontation with Knack. Vientos took a first-pitch ball, then fouled off back-to-back sliders. Knack used those pitches to set up a high fastball to try for a strikeout, but Vientos fouled the pitch back. He later took two sliders low and away “with ease,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
When he got another fastball — a pitch Vientos was hoping for but didn’t expect — it traveled right down the middle. Rather than aggressively try to pull the pitch, Vientos saw it deep into the zone and smacked it to the opposite field, a 102 mph line drive that snuck over the wall in right-center. Vientos went deep on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, after the most pitches seen before a grand slam in the past 50 postseasons, according to ESPN Research.
“You didn’t see a big swing,” Mendoza said. “It was, ‘Let me put it in play. Let me stay in the big part of the ballpark.’ And he was able to drive that one. You see the next at-bat, against a lefty, just going the other way with ease and just shoot the ball the other way. That’s a sign of not only a good hitter, but someone that is mature and is under control. It doesn’t matter the situation.”
You can say the same thing about the 2024 Mets, who have followed all three of their postseason losses with multiple-run victories.
Manaea, who transformed his career by dropping his arm slot and pitching across his body, held the Dodgers to only a Max Muncy home run through the first five innings, keeping a big early lead intact. The Mets nearly fumbled it away in a sixth inning that saw Jose Iglesias and Pete Alonso misplay groundballs, but Phil Maton got a red-hot Kiké Hernández to bounce into an inning-ending double play to preserve a three-run lead. Ryne Stanek followed, then Edwin Diaz came in for the four-out save.
The Mets will now have three straight games at Citi Field.
In other words, they have a chance to clinch one of the most improbable World Series berths in recent memory at home.
“Playing in front of the New York fans is the best,” Vientos said. “I’m excited to get back.”
-
Kyle Bonagura
Colorado coach Deion Sanders named Kaidon Salter the Buffaloes’ starting quarterback on Tuesday, ahead of the team’s opener Friday against Georgia Tech.
“The kid has a ton of experience, dual threat, can throw the heck out of the ball as well,” said Sanders. “He’s the guy. He’s the guy at this point.”
Salter, who transferred to Colorado after three years as a starter at Liberty, was the presumed starter but had been competing with five-star true freshman Julian Lewis.
“He’s done it before,” said Sanders. “This is not his first time running out the tunnel and getting the start. … I like what he did in the spring, and he’s growing and growing and growing.”
Sanders credited offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and volunteer assistant coach Byron Leftwich for their work with Salter.
“I defer to those two coaches to allow me to understand what I see as valid,” said Sanders, who added that he is hopeful Lewis will also get game reps.
Salter appeared in two games for Liberty in 2021, before starting most of the team’s games of over the next three years. During that span, he threw for 5,889 yards with 56 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. He also ran for 2,006 yards.
He will replace Shedeur Sanders, who started the past two years for Colorado, before being drafted in the fifth round by the Cleveland Browns.
-
Jake Trotter
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State coach Ryan Day has one message for freshman quarterback Julian Sayin, who will be making his first career start for the No. 3 Buckeyes against top-ranked Texas on Saturday.
“Just win,” Day said Tuesday. “Find a way to win.”
All eyes will be on Sayin and new Texas starting quarterback Arch Manning in the showdown at Ohio Stadium. It’s a rematch of last year’s College Football Playoff semifinal when both players watched from the sideline as Will Howard and Ohio State eliminated Quinn Ewers and Texas on the way to winning the national championship.
Both Sayin and Manning were five-star recruits coming out of high school. Manning started two games in Austin last season when Ewers suffered an injury; Sayin attempted only 12 passes last year in mop-up duty.
Day said the Buckeyes aren’t putting “crazy expectations” on Sayin, who beat out Lincoln Kienholz for the starting nod in the preseason.
“Take care of the ball. … If you need to throw it away, throw it away,” Day said of his discussions with Sayin heading into Saturday. “Don’t worry about anything else other than winning the game. That’s the most important thing — that’s the job of the quarterback.”
Ohio State will debut eight new starters after losing the bulk of last season’s championship defense to the NFL. Day said facing Manning will pose a “tremendous” challenge for the revamped defense.
“Athletic; a big, strong arm; smart; quick release; accurate — all of the above,” Day said of Manning. “I mean, he checks every box.”
It’s August and no games have been played, but that’s not keeping ESPN’s college football reporters from predicting the 12 schools that will make up the College Football Playoff beginning in December.
Ohio State won the inaugural 12-team bracket last season, despite starting as the No. 8 seed, demonstrating that the playoff truly gives new life to any team that gains entry.
There’s a slight alteration to the format this year. The tournament will still comprise the top five conference champions and seven at-large schools. But the top four seeds — and the first-round bye that comes with each of those seeds — will no longer go to the four highest-ranked conference champions (last season that was Oregon, Georgia, Boise State and Arizona State). This season the committee has moved to a straight seeding model, so the four highest-ranked schools in the committee’s final top 12 will get the top four seeds.
Ahead of Week 0, here are the slates our reporters picked. Let the chase begin:
Andrea Adelson: 1. Clemson 2. Penn State 3. Texas 4. LSU 5. Georgia 6. Ohio State 7. Notre Dame 8. Miami 9. Alabama 10. Iowa State 11. Nebraska 12. Boise State
Kyle Bonagura: 1. Texas 2. Penn State 3. Ohio State 4. Clemson 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. LSU 10. Arizona State 11. Miami 12. Boise State
Bill Connelly: 1. Penn State 2. Alabama 3. Texas 4. Ohio State 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Texas A&M 8. Clemson 9. Oregon 10. Boise State 11. Miami 12. Kansas State
Heather Dinich: 1. Penn State, 2. Clemson, 3. Texas 4. LSU 5. Georgia 6. Ohio State 7. Notre Dame 8. Alabama 9. Miami 10. Oregon 11. Kansas State 12. Boise State
David Hale: 1. Ohio State 2. Texas 3. Clemson 4. Penn State 5. Notre Dame 6. Georgia 7. Oregon 8. LSU 9. Texas A&M 10. Kansas State 11. Miami 12. Toledo
Eli Lederman: 1. Penn State 2. Texas 3. Clemson 4. Ohio State 5. Notre Dame 6. Alabama 7. Oregon 8. Georgia 9. Arizona State 10. LSU 11. Miami 12. Boise State
Max Olson: 1. Texas. 2. Penn State. 3. Notre Dame. 4. Clemson. 5. Alabama. 6. Oregon. 7. Georgia. 8. Ohio State. 9. Texas Tech. 10. LSU. 11. Utah. 12. Boise State
Adam Rittenberg: 1. Texas 2. Penn State 3. Clemson 4. Georgia 5. Alabama 6. Ohio State 7. Notre Dame 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. Iowa State 11. Boise State 12. Illinois
Mark Schlabach: 1. Texas 2. Clemson 3. Penn State 4. Georgia 5. Ohio State 6. Alabama 7. Notre Dame 8. Oregon 9. Miami 10. LSU 11. Arizona State 12. Boise State
Jake Trotter: 1. Texas, 2. Clemson, 3. Penn State, 4. LSU, 5. Ohio State, 6. Notre Dame, 7. Georgia, 8. Oregon, 9. Illinois, 10. South Carolina, 11. Texas Tech, 12. Tulane
Paolo Uggetti: 1. Ohio State, 2. Georgia, 3. Texas 4. Penn State 5. Notre Dame 6. Clemson 7. Oregon 8. LSU 9. Arizona State 10. Miami 11. South Carolina 12. Boise State
Dave Wilson: 1. Texas 2. Penn State 3. Clemson 4. Ohio State 5. Georgia 6. Notre Dame 7. Alabama 8. Oregon 9. LSU 10. Arizona State 11. Miami 12. Boise State
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment11 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024