On a hot, humid night in Baltimore, the stage was set for a letdown game for the Mets.
Going against a 40-49 Orioles team, Baltimore's young starter Brandon Young held down New York's offense for five innings before the lineup woke up to take a 2-1 lead. But then the Orioles got to Clay Holmes, scoring four runs in the sixth and tacking on another run against the bullpen in the seventh.
Down 6-2 with just six outs to go, it looked as if the Mets were bound to start their road trip, and the last few games before the All-Star break, with a loss. But the Mets' top four hitters would not accept it and put together a rally that ultimately helped New York take the series opener, 7-6, in extra innings.
Brandon Nimmo led off the eighth with a single, then Francisco Lindor launched his 18th homer of the season to cut the Orioles' lead to 6-4. Juan Soto singled to set up Pete Alonso, who mirrored Lindor with a two-run shot of his own to tie the game at 6-6, all before Baltimore could record an out. It was a brand new ballgame.
"Offensively, on a night where the first four-five innings we were pretty quiet, I thought we made some good adjustments and the bats got better," Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. "Hell of a win there."
Those in the locker room after the win pointed to Nimmo's at-bat to lead off the eighth as a catalyst. Nimmo battled, forcing a seven-pitch at-bat while fouling off three straight pitches before singling up the middle. Seeing so many pitches from the on-deck circle allowed Lindor to get a better idea of what to expect when it was his turn.
"He gave me an opportunity to see every pitch. I knew what the pitcher was doing," Lindor said of Nimmo's at-bat. "I told him, ‘you set that up.’ That’s a very professional at-bat, he did a fantastic job all day. Giving us information on what the ball is doing. Hats off to him."
Mendoza said that the approach from Nimmo is something he's seen for the past month or so because his outfielder has been "locked in." It's a big reason why when the Mets were struggling to score, the Mets skipper switched up the lineup to allow Nimmo to lead off against right-handers to allow Lindor and the others behind him to scout pitchers in real time.
Since then, including Tuesday's win, the Mets are 4-1. And while the lineup swap has helped, the team continues to believe in each other through the ups and downs of a long season and that has helped them build confidence and made them resilient.
"We believe in the lineup we have," Soto said after the game. "There’s no panic, we just roll in with what we have. And we compete out there. It’s not going to be easy wins, we gotta get it. We have to go out there and win it."
"Giving us information of what the ball is doing, so hats off to him"
Francisco Lindor gave props to Brandon Nimmo's 7-pitch at-bat in the 8th inning to set the tone for his home run pic.twitter.com/gQVO9hWf6W
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) July 9, 2025
Soto capped off the Mets' biggest comeback of the season with his game-winning single in the 10th inning to lead off, but it was a team effort. Aside from the Mets' big four, the bullpen in relief of Holmes kept the Orioles from building too big of a lead, Luis Torrens' defense continues to eliminate runners on the basepaths and even a bunt from Travis Jankowski gave the Mets a chance to do major damage.
"When you get an opportunity, when you’re down to pick each other up," Lindor said. "The offense did a good job today, but the pitching staff did a fantastic job….the guys contributed. Even Jankowski, even though we didn't score, coming in and bunting, it gives a boost in the dugout to continue to play for each other."
In total, the Mets had seven runs on 11 hits. The top four in the lineup accounted for six runs and eight of those hits. And while the team, as a whole, contributed enough to win, it was Nimmo, Lindor, Soto and Alonso who made Tuesday night's game truly special.
"We’ve seen it throughout the year. They got the ability to hit the ball out of the park at any time against anybody," Mendoza said. "It’s not easy to get through those four, five, six [hitters] when everybody’s clicking, it’s not an easy lineup to navigate. But it was special to see today."
