(Brad Penner-Imagn Images)1 / 2Mark Vientos drives in go-ahead run, Mets end 12-game losing streak after 3-2 win over Twins1 / 2Mark Vientos drives in go-ahead run, Mets end 12-game losing streak after 3-2 win over Twins2 / 2Mark Vientos drives in go-ahead run, Mets end 12-game losing streak after 3-2 win over Twins (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)John HarperThu, April 23, 2026 at 2:03 AM UTC·4 min readThe Mets broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning and held on to defeat the Minnesota Twins 3-2 at Citi Field on Wednesday night, ending their 12-game losing streak.
-Mark Vientos, who made a boneheaded play in the sixth inning, running through a stop sign to get thrown out at the plate, found redemption in the eighth, blooping a single to right field with two outs to drive in Brett Baty from second, breaking a 2-2 tie.
Baty and Francisco Alvarez had each walked to set up the go-ahead run. Alvarez battled in a nine-pitch at-bat against reliever Justin Topa.
Mendoza chose to have Luke Weaver close out the win, keeping him in for the ninth after Weaver got the final out of the eighth inning to work out of a bases-loaded situation.
-Juan Soto looked good at the plate in his return to action from the calf injury suffered on April 4.
He hit two hard fly-ball outs in his first two at-bats, both of them over 104 mph off the bat, then walked his third time up, and singled to right in the eighth inning off lefty reliever Taylor Rodgers.
However, Soto got nailed trying to steal second, leaving too early as Rodgers threw to first and Soto was then thrown out at second base.
-Clay Holmes gave the Mets a strong start, allowing two runs over seven innings. Holmes gave up five hits while striking out three, inducing plenty of weak contact with his nasty sinker.
Holmes continues to have a very good season. His ERA after five starts is 2.10.
The right-hander had a 2-1 lead into the sixth but left a sinker up, thigh-high, to Byron Buxton, and Buxton hammered it to left, 409 feet for a no-doubter home run.
-Francisco Lindor left the game after four innings with what the Mets announced as left calf tightness.
Lindor was having a big night, with two hits in his first two at-bats, a run scored and an RBI. He appeared to feel the calf tightness as he went from first to home on Alvarez’s double to right-center in the bottom of the fourth.
Lindor scored on the play but remained in a sitting position on the ground long enough to indicate something wasn’t right. He then went into the tunnel at the end of the dugout, followed by Mets’ trainers, and didn’t come out for the top of the fifth.
Bo Bichette moved to short to replace Lindor, while Baty entered the game at third base.
-The Mets’ new-look lineup, with Bo Bichette leading off and Lindor hitting in the clean-up spot, paid immediate dividends with a first-inning run, as Bichette doubled and eventually scored on Lindor’s single down the third-base line.
But otherwise, runs were mostly hard to come by again for an offense that ranks among the worst in the majors in several categories.
They were also hurt by bad baserunning, when Vientos was thrown out at the plate , ending the sixth inning with the scored tied 2-2.
With two outs, Vientos tried to score from first base on Marcus Semien’s double to the left-center gap. Third base coach Tim Lieper put up the stop sign to hold Vientos at third, but in what can only be considered a sign of how desperately the Mets wanted a win, Vientos ran through it and was an easy out at the plate. All in all, a bad gamble considering how slowly Vientos runs.
Mark Vientos. Why not? Vientos redeemed himself for his base-running mistake two innings earlier by coming through with the game-winning hit in the eighth inning.
It wasn’t a rocket by any means, just 70.3 mph off the bat, but it found grass when the Mets desperately needed a hit and a win.