Mets Sweep Angels, Reclaim First in NL East Behind Full-Team Effort and Key Reinforcements
The Mets are clicking again. Following a complete three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels at Citi Field, and with the Red Sox walking off the Phillies in extras on Wednesday night, the Mets have climbed back into sole possession of first place in the NL East. They sit at 59–44, 15 games over .500, riding a four-game winning streak that may prove to be their most complete stretch of baseball since late May.
But what defined this sweep wasn’t just clean scorekeeping. It was the most complete brand of Mets baseball seen in weeks—timely hits, sturdy bullpen work, defensive darts, and reinforcements everywhere you looked.
Baby Mets Spark Series Start
Tuesday’s 3–2 victory was the type of game that disappears in early July without the growth of the “Baby Mets.” Down 2–0 entering the bottom of the fifth and quieted by Kyle Hendricks through four innings, it was Brett Baty who ripped a two-out double to ignite the inning.
Francisco Alvarez—still fresh off his Syracuse return—punished a seventh-pitch fastball into the left field seats for a game-tying two-run homer. It was Alvarez’s first homer at Citi Field this season, and his first big-league blast since June. He knew it. The crowd knew it. Everyone felt the weight come off his bat and shoulders.
Alvy tied it with a BANG! 💥 pic.twitter.com/BDF1XjKcII
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 23, 2025
Ronny Mauricio followed with a single and promptly stole second. Brandon Nimmo, who’d entered the game 0-for-6 in the series, brought him home with a line-drive RBI single to cap the inning. Just like that, the Mets flipped the score, 3–2.
Read Monday’s Recap: Situationally savvy Mets battle Angels in electric 7-5 comeback win
Alvarez also showed off his defensive game, finishing a perfect Juan Soto outfield assist by tagging out Nolan Schanuel at the plate. For Soto, it was his sixth assist of the year—just three shy of last season’s total.
What a throw! 🤩@JuanSoto25_ | #LGM pic.twitter.com/r9JXrnBZMd
— New York Mets (@Mets) July 22, 2025
Frankie Montas battled through traffic for 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and two walks with six strikeouts. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and exited after his 91st pitch. The bullpen—Rico Garcia, Reed Garrett, and Ryne Stanek—stitched together the final 3.1 innings to lock down the win. Stanek worked around trouble in the ninth, retiring Mike Trout on a pop-up to first with the tying run aboard.
Veterans Seize the Finale
Wednesday’s matinee was loud, timely, and exactly what you want to see from your core.
Brandon Nimmo got things rolling in his 500th game at Citi Field—becoming the first Met to ever reach that mark in Queens—with a leadoff solo homer off Zach Plesac in the first. Pete Alonso snapped his skid with a vengeance, breaking it open in the third with a towering 430-foot three-run shot, his 248th career home run. He now trails only Darryl Strawberry (252) by four on the Mets’ all-time leaderboard.
But the biggest sigh of relief came from Francisco Lindor.
The Mets’ shortstop, mired in an 0-for-31 slump—the longest hitless stretch of his career—finally broke through with an RBI single in the third, and tacked on another in the fourth. He finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, a run scored, and a long overdue grin rounding first base.
As we’ve all seen the very applicable quote, “As Lindor goes, so do the Mets,” on Twitter (and in the ballpark today about 15 feet from me after Alonso’s home run), it was only fitting that he and Pete had a back-and-forth (skid-snapping) day. The de facto captain looked more dialed in on Wednesday than he has in weeks.
Manaea Dominant Over Five
Sean Manaea, making his second start since returning from an elbow flare-up, was efficient and poised. Outside of a second-inning jam and a solo shot from Trout in the third, Manaea allowed just two hits and one earned run over five innings with five strikeouts and two walks.
The Mets extended their lead to 6–1 behind Lindor’s second RBI and a Starling Marte single. Marte, in his first game back from the IL, slotted in as DH and went 2-for-4 with two hard-hit balls to left.
José Buttó made his return as well, pitching the seventh after a stint on the IL. He didn’t have his best command—piling on two earned runs on three hits in 0.2 innings—but got his feet wet before Carlos Mendoza turned to Edwin Díaz for a four-out save. It wasn’t perfect—Díaz hit the first batter he faced in the ninth—but he got the job done for his 21st save of the season.
Momentum, Reinforcements, and First Place
What defined this sweep wasn’t dominance from any one player—it was the balance the Mets have craved since June.
The Baby Mets were front and center in games one and two: Alvarez with the game-changing homer, Mauricio’s instincts and speed, Baty’s clutch double, Mark Vientos’ steady ABs. But on Wednesday, the veterans took over—Nimmo, Lindor, Alonso, Marte—all posting multi-hit performances or run-producing swings.
The pitching, meanwhile, continues to stabilize. Manaea and Montas each gave the Mets a chance, and the bullpen—despite the absence of Díaz in game two—pieced together big outs.
Almost everything worked. Talk about some clean and opportunistic Mets baseball. I keep telling y’all small ball wins in the dog days of summer. This is what a postseason-caliber team looks like in late July.
