Mark Ventos dug himself a hole.
He went 0-for-2 with an at-bat that looked like many of the ones he had early in his major league career.
But what happened next went off script.
Mets rookies fought back.
Vientos is learning from the Mets’ losing season and maybe he can be a new guy.
The rookie delivered quality at-bat after quality hit in front of 38,044 at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon, helping the Mets to an 8-4 victory over the sloppy Reds.
Vientos hit three hard balls, but it was his approach rather than the results that was most impressive.
In the fifth inning of the game, with two runners on base and the Mets leading by one, Vientous stepped up to the plate against right-hander Carson Spears, known for his right-handed hitting.
In his 186th plate appearance, more than a third of the plate count came courtesy of two sinkers, and this would be his 58th strikeout.
Instead, Vientos threw an inside fastball.
He watched as Spears hit a slider inside and then a sinker outside, missing the opportunity.
With the count full, Vientos shortened the distance and hit an RBI single up the middle, giving the Mets a valuable insurance run and giving them more reason to give him more at-bats number.
Vientos has clearly mastered the craft of a Triple-A pitcher, posting a .999 OPS with 16 home runs in 61 games for Syracuse this year.
He’s starting to show that his bat can adapt to major league pitching, too.
After going 3-for-4 on the afternoon, Vientos is hitting .300 (15-for-50) with three homers and six RBIs in his last 14 games.
Neither of his bats were soft on Sunday, turning exit velocities of 104.1 mph, 105.2 mph and 100.4 mph into three singles.
Ventos entered the game with an average exit velocity of 93.3 mph, which ranked 11th among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances. It will only go up.
Vientos doesn’t have a great glove, which makes his bat crucial to earning playing time. Among the contenders at third base, Brett Batty will likely return from a hamstring injury on Monday, while Ronny Mauricio added a pair of singles on Sunday.
His game at DH was also impressive.
Daniel Vogelbach, who quietly had a great second half after a poor first half, had a pinch hit in the seventh inning and cleared the bases on a double off the center field wall. , to open up the game.
The Mets have several potential designated hitters for next season and three errors from the Reds defense helped lead to Jose Quintana, who allowed two runs in 6 ⅔ innings after 11 starts. Has a 3.02 ERA.
