NEW YORK (AP) — Eduardo Escobar homered for the third straight game, Carlos Carrasco rebounded from a pair of poor starts and the New York Mets topped the Texas Rangers 4-1 on Sunday.
Starling Marte went deep for the second consecutive day and Jeff McNeil hit an RBI double to help the NL East leaders take two of three in the interleague series, giving them 15 wins in their last 20 home games.
The victory was No. 1,600 as a major league manager for Buck Showalter, who beat one of his former teams to pass Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda for 22nd place.
Jonah Heim homered for the second consecutive day for the Rangers, his 12th of the season. He began the day tied with Atlanta backstop Travis d'Arnaud for most in the majors as a catcher.
Carrasco (9-4) struck out eight and walked one in 5 2/3 innings. He was coming off consecutive losses to Houston, which tagged him for a combined 11 runs and 10 hits over 6 2/3 innings.
The 35-year-old right-hander was lifted with two on and high-fived his infielders on the mound before clapping into his glove as he walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd of 25,241.
Joely Rodríguez retired Kole Calhoun, who homered twice and knocked in four runs Saturday, to end the inning. The left-hander also worked a hitless seventh with two strikeouts before Adam Ottavino pitched a perfect eighth.
Edwin Díaz, the NL reliever of the month for June, got three outs for his 18th save in 21 tries. With two runners on, he whiffed Mitch Garver and got Leody Taveras on a fly ball to end it.
A mistake by Texas triggered a quick Mets rally in the fourth.
Pete Alonso struck out to start the inning, but the pitch got away from Heim behind the plate. His throw to first was into the runner, arriving just before Alonso, and the ball ticked off the mitt of Nathaniel Lowe, who reached for it tentatively with Alonso approaching.
The burly slugger hustled to second base as the ball rolled into right field. Heim was charged with an error, the first for the Rangers in six games. They had committed only one in 13 games since June 17 — fewest in the majors during that span.
McNeil laced the next pitch from Jon Gray (4-4) for a tiebreaking double, and Escobar drove an 0-2 fastball into the Texas bullpen in right-center for his ninth home run to make it 4-1.
The switch-hitting third baseman was pumped up as began his trot. He homered in all three games of the series, including a three-run shot in a 4-3 victory Friday night.
Marte homered on an 0-1 pitch in the first inning for the second straight day.
Gray gave up four runs, three earned, and six hits with seven strikeouts and one walk in 5 2/3 innings. He won his previous three starts, and Texas had won nine straight games started by Gray and teammate Martín Pérez, who beat the Mets on Saturday.
MOVIN' ON UP
New York promoted 20-year-old catcher and DH Francisco Álvarez from Double-A Binghamton to Triple-A Syracuse. Rated one of baseball's top prospects, Álvarez was batting .277 with 18 homers, 47 RBIs and a .922 OPS in 67 games at Double-A. With the Mets getting little offensive production at catcher and DH, he could be considered for a second-half callup to the majors.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mets: RHP Jacob deGrom was set to throw about 25 pitches and two innings Sunday night in his first minor league rehab start for Class A St. Lucie. The two-time Cy Young Award winner has been sidelined all season because of a stress reaction in his right scapula that caused inflammation. ... Backup outfielder Travis Jankowski (broken left hand) is taking batting practice on the field and could begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Syracuse soon.
ROSTER MOVES
The Mets put LHP David Peterson on the paternity list and recalled RHP Colin Holderman from Triple-A Syracuse.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Begin a three-game series in Baltimore on Monday afternoon with RHP Dane Dunning (1-6, 4.09 ERA) facing Orioles RHP Dean Kremer (2-1, 1.29). Dunning, receiving little run support this season, is winless in his last 11 starts. He is 0-5 with a 5.58 ERA on the road this year and has only one career win away from home, in September 2020 with the White Sox at Pittsburgh. Texas has lost his past eight starts.
Mets: RHP Taijuan Walker (6-2, 2.72 ERA) pitches Monday night in the opener of a three-game series at Cincinnati, which has the worst record in the National League. Hard-throwing rookie RHP Hunter Greene (3-9, 5.72) goes for the Reds. Walker fired 7 1/3 shutout innings of four-hit ball last Wednesday against Houston.
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