Brett Baty's Breakthrough Was A Long Time Coming, But He Always Knew It Was Possible

NEW YORK — Brett Baty cannot pinpoint a definitive moment when he felt completely dialed in at the plate at the major league level.

For Carlos Mendoza, the moment Baty tagged a 113.9 mph cutter off the Phillies' Zack Wheeler in his last April start before being sent down resonated as a big moment in the infielder's growth. Despite a bumpy three seasons at the major league level, Baty's faith never wavered.

"I've always thought I'm capable of doing whatever I want to accomplish in this game," Baty said. "I just am having success right now, and yeah, it's nice."

The fruits of Baty's endeavors are being seen at their highest level here in May, nearly 33 months since he made his highly-anticipated debut in 2022.

The power, which he regularly flashed in the minor leagues, is bursting through the surface at the highest level. On Tuesday night against the Pirates, Baty showcased that tool once again, blasting a go-ahead opposite-field home run in the seventh inning to lead the Mets to a 2-1 victory in front of 35,926 fans on Tuesday night at Citi Field.

"He's hitting velo, he's hitting fastballs, he's pulling balls, he's going oppo with ease," Carlos Mendoza said. "He's staying back on breaking balls. Even his takes are different. It looks like he's ready to hit and then shutting it down. For me, that's a good sign of a good hitter."

The Mets mounted a late rally to notch the victory for the second straight night after Pete Alonso's walk-off sacrifice fly gave the team a 4-3 victory in the series opener on Monday night.

The win moved the Mets to 28-15.

Brett Baty keeps rolling

Brett Baty made a hard cut around second base and stopped as the lights at Citi Field flickered and went dark.

Baty had clipped a low changeup from the Pirates' Mitch Keller to the opposite field and put his head down. The ball tagged the railing above the left-field wall to score the go-ahead run.

When Mendoza had to have the difficult discussion that Baty would be going down to Triple-A following his home run against Wheeler, he made sure to explain that it was due to the roster constraints, not performance.

Since returning, Baty has had success by trying to stay up the middle. And Mendoza is supplying him with regular at-bats to stay in a groove.

"I feel like he's keeping it simple, not overthinking what the pitcher's trying to do," Mendoza said. "Just making sure (he's) getting ready to hit. If I'm getting a fastball, I'm going to stay short and use the whole field, and if iIm getting a breaking ball, I'm still gonna be able to keep my hands back (and) stay in position where I can do damage."

The seventh-inning go-ahead home run was Baty's fourth home run in his last five games. In 26 games this season, Baty has already eclipsed last season's four home runs, which were hit across 50 games. In the month of May, Baty is 6-for-17 (.353) with four home runs, seven RBI and four doubles.

Tuesday was Baty's second multi-hit performance in his last six games.

"It's just the game," Baty said. "There's a lot of highs and lows and you just got to be the same guy every single day."

Baty accounted for two of the Mets' five hits against Keller, who struck out eight and only allowed two extra-base hits.

Kodai Senga's early success continues

Kodai Senga continued to quietly have one of the best starts of any Mets starting pitcher in club history.

Despite allowing one earned run on six hits and two walks in 5⅔ innings on Tuesday, Senga's 1.22 ERA through eight starts is the second-lowest in Mets history behind Jacob deGrom's 2021 Cy Young season.

Senga opened with five scoreless innings in mystical fashion, stranding runners at third base in four of those frames. Senga held the Pirates to 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position through those innings.

"I think (Francisco Alvarez) gave the right signs at the right time, and I was able to respond with those pitches, for the most part," Senga said through an interpreter.

Senga leaned on his ghost forkball more than he has at any point in his career, deploying it 40 percent of the time and picking up six of his season-high seven strikeouts on the pitch.

"I do have a level of confidence in that pitch, but also I'm looking at the response of the hitters and what type of hitter they are," Senga said, "and if they're somebody that excels at hitting that type of pitch, I wouldn't be throwing it that many times in a row."

For the majority of his start, it looked like Senga was in line to secure his fifth win of the season.

The only harm against Senga came with two outs in the top of the seventh inning. Senga surrendered a single to Alexander Canario. Then, Jared Triolo hits a ground ball to the left side that squeezed through the webbing in Mark Vientos' glove and went for a double.

Senga's outing finished at a season-high 102 pitches and he had to settle for a no-decision after Reed Garrett issued back-to-back walks, including a free pass to Henry Davis with the bases loaded.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NY Mets: Brett Baty, Kodai Senga provide lift in win over Pirates