Mets Roll Past Royals On Singles Night At Citi Field

 

Luis Severino firing one in to Bobby Witt Jr. in the first inning. Photo by Jason Schott.

The Mets, coming off a road trip in which they won four out of six games in Cincinnati and Atlanta,  brought their winning ways back home, as they rolled past the Kansas City Royals, 6-1, on Friday night at Citi Field.

The Mets pounded out 14 hits - well, that might be too strong a word considering 11 of them were singles, part of what turned into a relentless attack to back up starter Luis Severino, who earned his first win in the royal blue pinstripes.

Incredibly, the Mets have now won six of seven games to improve to 6-7 on the young season, and can climb to .500 with a win on Saturday afternoon, taking just over a week to make their 0-5 start a memory.

Kansas City jumped out to the early lead when Salvador Perez - the last player on either side from the rosters of these clubs when they met in the 2015 World Series - crushed one in the second deck in left field for a solo shot to lead off the second inning.

In what marked an early turning point, Severino worked around a pair of walks by striking out Hunter Renfroe looking and got Kyle Isbel to ground one back to him.

Michael Wacha, who pitched for the Mets in 2020, got the start for the Royals, and he nearly sailed through the lineup the first time through, but Harrison Bader hit a liner to right field with two outs in the third inning.

Brandon Nimmo was up next, and he laced one into the right-center field gap that he legged out for an RBI double that brought Bader in to tie it at 1.

The Mets then had more two-out magic in the fourth, which began innocuously enough with Brett Baty muscling one out into right field, what White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson would call a "duck snort." Francisco Alvarez followed with a knock of his own into right field for a single, then Jeff McNeil singled to left to bring in Baty before DJ Stewart got an RBI single to bring in Alvarezand open up a 3-1 Mets edge.

In the fifth, Nimmo led off with a single before Francisco Lindor got a one-out single, and with two outs, Brett Baty crushed one to center field that Isbel leaped and got leather one, but couldn't corral it, so it went to the fence. Nimmo and Lindor came in easily to make it 5-1 Mets and give Baty a double.

Severino would exit after the fifth, with the only hit and run he allowed coming on Perez's home run, and he scattered four walks, while striking out four.

The Mets bullpen pitched a shutout the rest of the way, as Jake Diekman threw 2/3 of an inning before Reid Garrett threw an inning-and-a-third, Adam Ottavino pitched a perfect eighth, and Jorge Lopes worked around a hit and struck out two in the ninth.

Pete Alonso put it out of reach with a solo home run, his fourth of the season, to lead off the eighth, and make it 6-1.

LET THERE BE LIGHT: This was just the second time in the Mets' first seven home games that they played under the lights this season, especially notable with the new LEDs that have taken away all shadows on the field. The game is more vivid than ever, as these pics of Luis Severino pitching to MJ Melendez in the fourth inning show:

Photos by Jason Schott.