In removing Carlos Mendoza and inserting Andy Green, the Mets hoped to breathe some life — any life — into a team that was perishing.
For much of Saturday’s game, Citi Field felt funereal.
But a spark — and a few hits and runs — demonstrated a pulse that had not been evident earlier.
It is just that — a pulse, rather than a steady heartbeat — but the Mets discovered a bit of fight, enough offense and finally a victory.
A sixth-inning eruption that featured big swings from Francisco Lindor and A.J. Ewing carried the Mets from two down to two ahead in what became a 6-2 win over the Phillies at Citi Field, where the announced crowd of 37,338 sat through a 70-minute rain delay to see the club snap a seven-game skid and see Green record his first victory as Mets manager.
It is far too soon to declare that banishing Mendoza and installing Green will change much around the Mets, who seem destined to sell at the trade deadline, but any trace of vitality would be welcome to a clubhouse and crowd that wants August and September games to matter.
To beat significant odds and accomplish as much, the Mets (35-48) would need more games like Saturday’s, in which they looked listless and lifeless for five innings — as did the crowd, which appeared apathetic rather than angry at the offense’s strikeouts — before they rattled off all six of their runs in the sixth and seventh innings.
During the seven-game skid, they scored as many as six runs in a game one time.
Through five innings against opener Tim Mayza and Alan Rangel, the Mets totaled three base runners.
In the sixth, six straight Mets batters reached base.
A Juan Soto single began the rally. Bo Bichette’s knock put runners on the corners.
And Lindor — in his third game back after missing two months while his team spiraled — snuck a triple under Bryce Harper’s diving glove at first base, tying the game and providing hope for just about the first time in a week.
After a pair of walks from Jared Young and Mark Vientos, it was Ewing grounding a two-run single through the middle that allowed an exhale.
The Mets would add to the lead an inning later, when Soto came through with his own RBI triple and Bichette followed with a long sacrifice fly.
The Mets survived, for the day, because their offense awoke, their bullpen was shutdown and their maligned rotation showed promise for a second straight day.
After Zach Thornton allowed just one run in six innings Friday — and was rewarded for his effort by a demotion because the club is planning a bullpen game for Sunday and won’t need a fifth starter the next time through the order — Christian Scott made just one mistake in his return from the injured list.
Scott allowed two runs, courtesy of a third-inning home run from Bryce Harper, but nothing else in 4 ¹/₃ innings in which he struck out six, continuing to impress on the other side of a hip issue.
After Scott, Green turned to four relievers (A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazobán, Luke Weaver and Devin Williams) to cover 4 ²/₃ scoreless innings in which they walked one and let up two hits — one of which belonged to Harper, who was thrown out trying to stretch a bloop single into a double.
Minter was particularly impressive in recording five outs to take the Mets from the middle of the fifth to the seventh.
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The 32-year-old lefty had not lasted 1 ²/₃ innings in a game since 2021.
After Brazobán’s seventh, Weaver took down the eighth to push his streak to 23 scoreless innings in 21 games, during which he has struck out 31.
Williams recorded the final three outs to clinch win No. 1 for Green and at least delay the obituaries that might be on the way.
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