Mets Notes: Juan Soto looks good in return; Bo Bichette to play shortstop in Francisco Lindor's absence?

Mets manager Carlos Mendoza spoke about different aspects of the team snapping their 12-game losing streak after their 3-2 win over the Twins

Juan Soto's first game back

The Mets' lineup got a massive boost on Wednesday. They activated Soto from the IL and inserted him in the two-hole as the DH.

He finished 1-for-3 with a walk, but the at-bats were Soto-like.

In his first AB, he launched a 96 mph fastball to deep center field. It sounded good off the bat -- after replay, it seemed he got just under it -- and went just 387 feet, but he was on top of the fastball. His second at-bat saw him hit a sharp liner to right field that went off his bat at 104.3 mph. Two at-bats, two loud outs. He'd take a walk on six pitches in the fifth inning, and then led off the eighth with a single.

"That ball, that first at-bat, was going to be gone. During the summer, I think that’s out of here," Mendoza said of Soto's at-bats. "The quality overall, he looked really good."

Soto would get picked off at first in the eighth, but as the Mets skipper said, Soto didn't look rusty at the plate.

Clay Holmes provides another quality start

Lost in the victory was how good Holmes was for the Mets.

The right-hander allowed just two runs across seven strong innings, giving his team a chance to win on Wednesday night.

“He was very good tonight,” Mendoza said. “That sinker put them on the ground, kept getting ground balls. He was pitch efficient, you look up and he got strike one, kept attacking, gave us seven innings and a pretty solid outing by him.”

For the Mets, the win to snap the losing streak was important, even if Holmes got a no-decision. But the Mets starter is relieved, like the rest of the locker room, that they got over the hump.

"Winning's fun," Holmes said. "There was a tough stretch there. It's a crazy thing. Things start spinning, and there's a lot going on. Just to feel a win again and see everyone smiling. It's a good feeling.

“It’s not easy losing games, especially when you get that type of starting pitching, which we had, but good teams find a way to win games like that," Mendoza said. "I’m confident that we will start doing that here pretty soon, especially with the way our starters are continuing to throw the baseball. But it was good to have that one today.”