MINNEAPOLIS — Groundhog week mercifully ended for the Mets on Sunday with shutdown relief and a ninth-inning rally.
After three straight games in which the bullpen and lineup wasted respectable starting pitching, the Mets received a big hit from DJ Stewart in the ninth and got three outs from Adam Ottavino in a 2-0 victory over the Twins at Target Field.
The Mets had their three-game losing streak snapped on a day they managed only four hits, but allowed the same total.
Stewart delivered a two-run double in the ninth against Griffin Jax for the game’s only scoring.
Francisco Lindor blooped a leadoff double in front of left fielder Matt Wallner to begin the winning rally before Jeff McNeil was hit by a pitch.
“I don’t get in that situation if Frankie doesn’t hustle out of the box,” Stewart said. “Most guys you see, they could hit a pop-up like that and they are mad and they just stay at first base, but it doesn’t happen without the hustle of [Lindor]. I am glad to have him on my team.”
Pablo Lopez dominated the Mets by establishing a career-high with 14 strikeouts over eight shutout innings in which he allowed two hits and hit two batters.
Stewart, who struck out three times against the right-hander, said he was trying to avoid a sombrero when he came to the plate against Jax in the ninth.
“It’s an at-bat that you are 0-for-3 with three strikeouts against one of the better pitchers in the league,” manager Buck Showalter said. “You get down two strikes, so you have got two choices there: You have got an opportunity to take a challenging day and turn it into something good, but I was proud of him as I was for [Lindor] for running the ball out and being on second.”
Tylor Megill gave the Mets five shutout innings in which he allowed two hits and struck out two with four walks.
Megill received decent results for the second time in his last three starts — he held the Rangers to one run over six innings on Aug. 28. On this day he was removed after 93 pitches in a scoreless game.
“His fastball was crisp and they had a little trouble getting to it,” Showalter said. “It had late life to it … you see him with 93 pitches in five innings and there is a longer outing there potentially. I knew he probably wasn’t going to finish the next inning, so I would rather start an inning clean, but we pitched well out of the bullpen.”
Ottavino recorded the save behind scoreless relief innings from Phil Bickford, Trevor Gott and Brooks Raley.
Megill escaped trouble in the third by retiring Royce Lewis with runners on second and third and two outs. In the inning, the right-hander allowed a single and a walk. Another potential hit was erased when McNeil trapped Alex Kirilloff’s sinking line drive to left and threw out Willi Castro at second base.
Castro singled in the fifth and Edouard Julien walked with one out, but Megill got Kirilloff to hit into an inning-ending double play.
“I threw a lot of strikes, obviously four walks, but it seemed like they were having a lot of good at-bats and fouling a lot of pitches off,” Megill said. “I just minimized the trouble I got in.”
The Mets had limited chances early. Brandon Nimmo singled leading off the game, but advanced no further than first base. Francisco Alvarez’s single in the fourth and Lindor’s hit-by-pitch with two outs gave the Mets the semblance of a rally, but McNeil was retired.
Lopez retired the final 10 batters he faced, striking out six of them.
“We pitched well — we had to as well as their guy was pitching,” Showalter said. “He had four weapons and it’s tough to defend a guy who has four pitches.”
