Mets' Vientos homers twice in five-RBI night
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A 10-day absence only served as a temporary reprieve for International League hurlers, who find themselves tormented more and more by Mark Vientos.
Two games into his return and nothing has changed.
The No. 5 Mets prospect homered twice and drove in a season-high five runs as Triple-A Syracuse rolled past Norfolk, 18-6, on Tuesday night at Harbor Park. Vientos left the yard on Sunday in his first game off the seven-day IL, and has now gone deep nine times in 22 contests since the beginning of May.
The 22-year-old kept his foot on the gas which continued a torrid stretch of offensive firepower. Vientos opened the scoring in the first with a two-run jack in the opening frame. With Syracuse already enjoying a 10-0 lead in the fifth, the Florida native went the other way again, this time a three-run poke for his second multihomer game of the season and sixth of his career.
The slugger had two opportunities for a third round-tripper, but walked and struck out in his final plate appearances.
It's been a tale of two very different seasons for Vientos, who was coming off a personal-best 25-homer campaign in 2021 with Double-A Binghamton and Syracuse. The 6-foot-4, 185-pound third baseman only homered once in April and finished the month batting .164 with a .568 OPS and 21 strikeouts in 19 games.
The worm turned for Vientos, who homered and drove in four runs on May 8 against Lehigh Valley. He homered twice on May 11 and went yard the next day, driving him towards a .328/.408/.642 month which included six home runs and 13 RBIs.
Following his performance on Tuesday, Vientos is now slashing .255/.343/.524 with 18 extra-base hits, 10 long balls and 29 RBIs in 41 games.
Overshadowed by the organization's trio of Top 100 prospects Francisco Álvarez (seven), Brett Bay (23) and Ronny Mauricio (69), Vientos remains on track to become the first to potentially reach the Majors. The 59th overall pick in the 2017 Draft has appeared in 53 Triple-A games and owns an .890 OPS and 13 home runs since joining Syracuse for the final two weeks of 2021.