Mark Vientos dug himself a hole.
He was down, 0-2, in an at-bat that looked like a lot of his at-bats early in his major league career.
But what followed veered from the script.
The Mets rookie fought back.
As Vientos is learning through a lost Mets season, maybe he can become a find.
The rookie put together quality at-bat after quality at-bat that helped the Mets beat the sloppy Reds, 8-4, in front of 38,044 at Citi Field on Sunday afternoon.
Vientos smacked three balls hard, but it was the discipline more than the outcome that most impressed.
With two runners on in the fifth inning of a game the Mets were leading by one, Vientos stepped up against Carson Spiers, a righty (notable for the righty-hitting Vientos).
A couple of sinkers provided the first two strikes of what would have been his 58th strikeout in his 186th plate appearance, nearly one-third of the time.
“I was just trying to simplify it,” Vientos said of his approach. “Brought him back to 3-2.”
Vientos laid off an inside fastball.
He watched Spiers miss with a slider inside and then a sinker outside.
With the count full, Vientos slapped a cutter right back through the middle for an RBI single, giving the Mets a valuable insurance run — and giving the Mets more reason to keep giving him at-bats.
These are at-bats that Vientos values.
Since the Mets fell out of the playoff race and sold at the deadline, he has received consistent playing time that he is beginning to take advantage of.
“I’ve improved a lot,” said Vientos, who, after his three-hit day, is hitting an even .300 (15-for-50) with three home runs and six RBIs in his past 14 games. “I’m playing consistently at the highest level, and I’m learning from the best of the best around me every single day.
“I feel like I’ve improved drastically over the course of the season and once I’ve been here.”
Vientos clearly has mastered Triple-A pitching, posting a .999 OPS with 16 home runs in 61 games with Syracuse this year.
He is beginning to show his bat could be adapting to big-league pitching, too.
None of his hits Sunday were soft, turning exit velocities of 104.1 mph, 105.2 mph and 100.4 mph into three singles.
Vientos entered play with an average exit velocity of 93.3 mph, which was 11th best among hitters with at least 100 plate appearances.
It’s only going up.
“He can have a couple pitches he doesn’t look good on,” manager Buck Showalter said after the Mets avoided a sweep, “and then all of a sudden put a good swing on the ball.”
Vientos’ iffy glove makes his bat paramount to earning playing time.
Among his competitors at third base, Brett Baty could return from a groin injury Monday and Ronny Mauricio added a pair of singles Sunday.
His competition at DH impressed, too.
Daniel Vogelbach, who has quietly had a huge second half after a small first half, pinch-hit in the seventh inning with the bases loaded and cleared them all with a double off the center-field wall to blow the game open.
The veteran Vogelbach has been mostly phased out as the Mets seek time for younger players such as Vientos, which Vogelbach has handled “really well,” Showalter said.
“It’s good to see him finishing strong,” Showalter said of Vogelbach, “and leaving us, baseball, teammates, everybody … the reminder [of] what he’s capable of doing.”
A couple of the Mets’ potential designated hitters for next season — as well as three errors from the Reds’ defense — helped make a winner of Jose Quintana, who allowed two runs in 6 ²/₃ strong innings and holds a 3.02 ERA after 11 starts.
Quintana is finishing strong and providing hope for next season.
While Showalter cautioned that “one game doesn’t mean he’s figured it out,” Vientos is trying to do the same.
“It’s all about the mindset. Maybe a few months ago, things were different mentally,” Vientos said. “I’ve been playing, just getting comfortable and just trusting it.”
