Without Francisco Lindor, Mets lean on Bo Bichette's clutch bat in wild 10‑8 win over Twins

The Mets, who ended a 12-game losing streak on Wednesday, now have a modest winning streak -- two in a row. The Mets (9-16) took two-of-three from Minnesota, giving them their third series win of the season.

Here are the main takeaways:

-Christian Scott started for the Mets, his first outing in the Majors since 2024 elbow surgery. The good part? He didn’t give up a hit. That’s it, though. The righty was wilder than he’s ever been in the majors -- was he too amped for his return? -- and did not make it out of the second inning, even with the Mets ahead at the time. Scott delivered just 1.1 innings and allowed one run, forcing in a run with a bases-loaded walk in the first inning. Scott, who had not walked more than two hitters in any of his first nine starts in the majors, faced 10 batters Thursday and walked five. He also hit a batter and balked. In the first inning, he threw 33 pitches alone and only 13 were strikes. He had three straight walks in the frame and fell behind, 3-0, to the final batter of the inning before getting to 3-2 and inducing a fly ball. Scott walked Brooks Lee on four pitches to start the second inning and, one out later, balked him over and then plunked Byron Buxton, which ended the night for Scott. Overall, Scott threw 43 pitches and only 18 were strikes.

-Tobias Myers relieved Scott and threw 2.1 innings, allowing only an unearned run, which scored after Ronny Mauricio -- Lindor’s replacement at shortstop -- bungled a grounder in the fourth. Myers struck out three and walked none. David Peterson cleaned up the fourth and then had a five-pitch fifth inning, helped by a nice 1-4-3 double play. In all, Peterson threw 3.1 innings of relief and allowed one run and four hits while striking out two and walking one. The lone run Peterson gave up came on a solo home run by Tristan Gray.

-Things went sideways for the Mets in the eighth inning, even though they were up, 7-3. Craig Kimbrel got two outs in the frame, but also allowed two hits and a walk, which brought the tying run to the plate. The Mets brought in Huascar Brazobán to face Ryan Jeffers and Jeffers hammered a grand slam to left field, knotting the score at 7-7. Entering the appearance, Brazobán had not allowed a single run in 10.2 innings of work this season. Three of the runs that scored on Jeffers’ blow were charged to Kimbrel and one to Brazobán.

-There was an odd moment in the ninth. Between innings, Devin Williams started coming in from the bullpen, but Brazobán emerged from the dugout and headed toward the mound, a moment of Met confusion. Because Brazobán crossed the foul line, he had to at least face the first batter of the inning. He got the first out and then Williams came in.

-When Williams arrived, his recent troubles continued. He got one out, but then gave up three consecutive hits. That brought in one run and trimmed the Mets lead to 10-8 and meant that Williams had to face Trevor Larnach with the tying runs in scoring position. Ultimately, though, Williams struck out Larnach swinging on an “airbender” changeup to end the game.

-The Mets entered the game with the worst offense in the Majors by runs per game, averaging only 3.25. Brett Baty got nearly that many with one cut against Minnesota ace Joe Ryan with a three-run homer in the first inning and several other Mets contributed important hits, too. Baty’s homer was huge, considering the Twins had jumped to a 1-0 lead on Scott’s wildness. The blow was Baty’s first homer of the season and came on the first pitch he saw. It was measured at 414 feet and clocked at 107.1 miles per hour off the bat. It was Baty’s first extra-base hit since April 8. Carson Benge smashed his second homer of the season, a 105.7-mph scorcher to right, and added his second double, too. The homer was Benge’s first since Opening Day. Luis Robert hammered an RBI double in the second. Marcus Semien had two hits, including a double. Juan Soto, playing in his second game back from a calf injury, was 0-for-3 but walked twice. The Mets were 5-for-13 overall with runners in scoring position.

Star of the game

Bichette, obviously. He took a .325 career average with runners in scoring position into the game, but had been hitting only .174 in such situations as a Met. His bases-clearing double off Anthony Banda, which struck the wall in left-center, was his third hit of the night and one of the biggest hits of the season for the Mets, snapping a 7-7 tie. Bichette celebrated with several cathartic fist pumps after reaching second.

Highlights

What's next

The Mets remain at Citi Field for a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies.

Friday's 7:10 p.m. opener features probable pitchers Freddy Peralta (1-2, 4.05 ERA) and Michael Lorenzen (1-2, 7.48 ERA).