J.D. Martinez, Francisco Alvarez, and Brandon Nimmo each hit home runs off Shota Imanaga as the New York Mets cruised to an 11-1 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Friday.
Francisco Lindor contributed three hits and scored twice as the Mets won for the eighth time in nine games. Jose Iglesias also had a standout performance, going 4 for 5 with three RBIs.
“This lineup showed what it’s capable of tonight,” Martinez commented.
The Mets have been on a strong streak, winning 12 of their last 15 games while averaging 6.6 runs and 10.3 hits per game during this stretch. “Our team has been doing a good job of focusing on the next game,” Iglesias remarked.
New York was the first team to face Imanaga (7-2) for a second time since his impressive debut in the majors. However, they managed to score 10 runs on 11 hits off the Japanese left-hander in just three-plus innings.
Earlier in the season, Imanaga had thrown seven scoreless innings against the Mets in a 1-0 Cubs victory on May 1.
The Mets wasted no time, scoring three runs before Imanaga could record his first out. Lindor led off with a double, followed by a walk to Nimmo, and then Martinez blasted a 412-foot home run to center field for his ninth of the season.
“Today, I didn’t feel like Imanaga’s fastball had the same movement it did in our previous encounter,” Martinez noted.
Alvarez started the second inning with his second homer of the season. Later in the inning with two outs and Iglesias on base, Nimmo hit an opposite-field home run, his 10th of the year, to extend the Mets’ lead to 6-1.
