Mark Vientos homered while playing his first game in seven weeks, Robert Stock notched his first major league win in seven years, and the New York Mets edged the Tampa Bay Rays 3-2 on Monday night in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Returning from a fractured right hand that kept him out since July 9, Vientos hit three home runs for Triple-A Syracuse on Sunday while appearing on a rehab assignment. He carried over the power display with a solo shot in the seventh inning on Monday as the Mets won for the second time in six games.
Winning for the first time since April 5, 2019, with the San Diego Padres, Stock (1-3) tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings. He allowed five hits and no walks while striking out four.
Kodai Senga notched his fifth save in five chances with a scoreless ninth inning, striking out Yandy Diaz looking to end the game.
A.J. Ewing had two of New York’s 10 hits.
Tampa Bay’s Chandler Simpson and Liam Hicks each had two hits and an RBI. Junior Caminero extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games.
Rays starter Ian Seymour (9-6) yielded three runs on six hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out 10 and walked none as the Rays had a four-game winning streak end.
The Mets broke through in the fourth after Bo Bichette hit a leadoff double. Carson Benge’s single moved the runner to third, and Bichette scored when Vientos grounded into a double play.
In the fifth, Tampa Bay had the bases loaded and no outs before Stock came up big. He retired Taylor Walls on a foul popout, struck out Diaz and forced Jonathan Aranda into a lineout that left fielder Christopher Morel nearly misplayed into a hit.
Morel ended the following inning by cutting down Simpson at second base. The Tampa Bay speedster singled, hesitated and was thrown out trying to leg out a double.
Vientos led off the seventh with his 12th homer, bashing Seymour’s changeup 418 feet to left-center field for a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, after Casey Legumina replaced Seymour on the mound, Francisco Alvarez hit an RBI single to pad the advantage.
The Rays trimmed the deficit to 3-2 on RBI singles from Hicks and Simpson in the eighth.
Seymour fanned the side in the first inning on 10 pitches, missing an immaculate inning with a first-pitch ball to No. 3 hitter Benge. He recorded seven strikeouts in the first three frames.
