Juan Soto drilled a two-run homer and the New York Mets pulled away for a 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night in Minneapolis.
Pete Alonso went 2-for-2 with two walks and an RBI for the Mets, who won their second game in a row and improved to 9-2 in their past 11 contests. Mark Vientos doubled and drove in a run.
Christian Vazquez drove in the lone run for Minnesota, which dropped to 1-3 with two games remaining on a six-game homestand.
Mets right-hander Clay Holmes (1-1) allowed one run on two hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out eight.
Twins right-hander Justin Topa (0-1) took the loss out of the bullpen after giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits in one inning. Topa followed starter Joe Ryan, who limited the Mets to one run on three hits in five innings. Ryan fanned eight and walked two.
Mets relievers Huascar Brazoban, Reed Garrett and Ryne Stanek teamed up to pitch four scoreless innings and preserve the win. Holmes and the bullpen trio combined to walk three batters and strike out 13.
New York opened the scoring in the third inning. Luisangel Acuna drew a leadoff walk, swiped second base and scored on a single to left field by Alonso.
The Twins loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth but managed to score only one run to even the score. Vazquez hit a sacrifice fly to left field to drive in Trevor Larnach, but Edouard Julien grounded into a fielder’s choice in the next at-bat and Byron Buxton ended the inning with a strikeout.
Vientos drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the sixth. Two batters later, Vientos scored on a throwing error by Topa to put the Mets on top 3-1.
Soto slammed his two-run blast in the seventh to make it 5-1. He belted a pitch 405 feet to right-center field for his second homer of the season.
