Quinton Fesq
The New York Mets walked out of Oracle Park on Friday night with a 10-3 win over the San Francisco Giants, and no single headline can capture it. Fifteen hits. Ten RBIs distributed across the lineup. It was the kind of game where everyone touched the scoreboard and no one had to carry anyone else.
The first inning set the tone immediately. Francisco Lindor singled to lead things off, Juan Soto followed with a hit before exiting with right calf tightness, and Bo Bichette plated the first run with a sharp line drive single to center. After a double play wiped 2 runners, Marcus Semien came up and singled home another. 2-0 before the Giants had recorded a single out in the top of the second.
Nolan McLean made sure that cushion held. The right-hander went 5.1 innings, scattered 1 hit, struck out 4, and looked composed in a road start against a lineup that was supposed to test him. He earned the win and dropped his ERA to 2.61 on the young season. The Giants managed 2 runs against him in the sixth — a ground-rule double from Willy Adames and a passed ball by Francisco Alvarez — but by then the Mets were already pulling away.
The 4th inning is where this game became a statement. Semien led off the scoring with a 2-run home run to center, his first as a Met. Two batters later, Alvarez crushed a solo shot to the same part of the park. That made it 5-0, and San Francisco’s Tyler Mahle was done for the night when the 6th came around.
Alvarez wasn’t finished. He led off the 7th with another home run to left, his 3rd of the season. 2 home runs in a game, 2 RBIs, and now an OPS that sits at 1.137 through the early going. The catcher who came into 2026 with something to prove is delivering every night he steps in the box.
Brett Baty added a run-scoring double in the 9th. Luis Robert Jr. drove in a run with a line drive single in the 7th. Mark Vientos singled home another. Carson Benge knocked in a run on a groundout. Even Tyrone Taylor, who went 0-for-4 replacing Soto in left, made his presence felt defensively. The bullpen — Brooks Raley, Huascar Brazobán, Richard Lovelady, and Luis García — combined to allow 1 earned run the rest of the way.
The Soto injury is the only thing worth watching from this box score with any concern. Right calf tightness in the 1st inning, and he was replaced before the bottom half. Losing Soto for any stretch of time would change this offense’s ceiling in a hurry. The Mets won without him Friday. They can’t make a habit of needing to.
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