Mets rout Rangers with 22-hit parade for sixth straight win

ARLINGTON, Texas — The Mets’ stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas — especially Monday in a 14-2 win over the Rangers.

This was the most resounding of their six consecutive victories, which matches their longest such streak of the season. And it came with plenty of highlights, from a season-high hit total (22) to a banner night for Francisco Lindor (4-for-4 in just six innings) to a key moment from DJ Stewart that all but ended the game (a three-run home run in the top of the second).

Manager Carlos Mendoza offered Texas mercy — and gave a few players a bit of rest — by swapping out the top third of his lineup in the seventh inning. Jose Iglesias entered for Lindor, Harrison Bader for Brandon Nimmo, Luis Torrens for J.D. Martinez. The only Mets position player who didn’t play was Starling Marte, who sat with a sore right knee.

Altogether, it added to the growing body of evidence: The Mets are rolling. They have won 10 of 12 and are up to 34-37, the closest they have been to .500 since May 16.

“We’re having fun. We’ve come together as a group,” said lefthander David Peterson, who allowed two runs in six innings. “Not saying it was separated or anything [earlier in the season], but with some of the stuff we’ve had to go through early in the year and the way they grinded at the beginning, the only thing we have when it comes down to it is each other and being able to lean on each other and trusting that every single guy is going to go out there and do their job. I think everyone in this locker room takes that to heart.”

Nimmo had three hits (giving him 10 in the past four games) plus four RBIs. Pete Alonso, Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez also had three hits each.

The first hint that this game would be a successful one for the Mets came in the first inning when Lindor, Martinez and Alonso singled — in a span of nine pitches — for a near-immediate lead against Rangers righthander Jon Gray.

The second hint was less subtle. The Mets scored six runs in the second, with the rally capped by Stewart’s blast to rightfield.

Gray entered with a 2.17 ERA and left with a 3.31 ERA. He had allowed 10 runs in his previous 10 starts. The Mets burned him for nine in three innings (plus two batters in the fourth).

“We were aggressive on his fastball,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Pitches that were right there on the plate, we were ready to hit. Laid off some of the sliders that he threw. But the ones he left up, we were ready to go. We know he’s got a good arm. We were ready for pitches in the strike zone and we did damage.”

The Rangers (33-39), losers of four in a row amid a major regression from their World Series championship last autumn, scored both of their runs on Robbie Grossman’s two-out, two-strike, two-run home run in the third.

That cut the Mets’ lead to a modest five, so the game kind of, sort of looked as if it could be close.

They quickly put an end to that idea. They added two runs in two pitches off Gray in the fourth, with Nimmo homering to right-center. Lindor had an RBI double and Nimmo an RBI single in the fifth. Alvarez tacked on another run-scoring single in the sixth.

Pummeled into submission, the Rangers put catcher Andrew Knizner on the mound in the eighth. He recorded the final four outs — without allowing a run — by lobbing 43-mph meatballs in the general direction of the plate.

“This is what was envisioned when you put this lineup down on paper,” Nimmo said.

Mendoza said: “We knew with this offense we were capable of putting [up] some [big] games. But obviously today was a special one.” 

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.