Vientos takes Cole deep twice as Mets outslug Yankees

NEW YORK — Outside of Pete Alonso, who was an overnight star in Flushing, and Francisco Alvarez, who might still become one, the Mets have routinely watched their most talented position-player prospects struggle to gain footholds at the starts of their careers. For every Alonso, there has been an Amed Rosario or a Michael Conforto or a Brett Baty — players who had their moments, to be certain, but found the path between the Minors and Majors far from linear.

Entering this season, Mark Vientos seemed like one of those players. A forgettable cup of coffee in 2022 gave way to a difficult ’23 in which he fought for playing time, spent more days in the Minors that he preferred and, ultimately, did not receive regular reps until the Mets were well out of contention. Vientos began this season back at Triple-A, blocked — perhaps indefinitely — at his natural position of third base.

All the while, a question lingered: What would it look like if he played every day?

Finally, this month, the Mets began empowering Vientos to give an emphatic answer. Since Baty’s surprise demotion at the end of May, Vientos has started at third base nearly every day, proving to be not just an adequate solution there, but one of the more productive players in the entire National League. His second career multi-homer effort helped give the Mets a 9-7 win over Gerrit Cole and the Yankees in the Subway Series on Tuesday, leading them to their 14th victory in their last 18 games.

Vientos pulled a high, arcing 382-foot homer over the left-field fence in the second inning, then lined a 385-foot shot to the opposite field against Cole in the fourth. That marked the third consecutive plate appearance with a homer for Vientos, who also went deep in his final at-bat Sunday at Wrigley Field.

Harrison Bader and Brandon Nimmo homered as well for the Mets, who have hit seven home runs in their last 15 innings. And they needed every one of them, as Aaron Judge’s eighth-inning grand slam made the game far closer than it was for most of the evening.