LOS ANGELES – The intentional walk was, when you think about it, appropriate. Two runners were at the start in a one-run game. First base was open with two outs. Francisco Lindor, a potential MVP who had already homered, was up and running. And yet Mark Vientos, who on Monday would deliver the grand slam that set the tone in the New York Mets’ 7-3 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series, said he “took it personally.” .

That reaction was also appropriate, if you ask Vientos’ teammates.

“My guy has a lot of confidence in himself,” said Sean Manaea, the Mets’ winningest pitcher. “I like that.”

Vientos’ grand slam off Landon Knack, who was expected to do most of the work in what qualified as a bullpen game for the Dodgers, capped a five-run second inning that helped the Mets win the first two games from Dodger Stadium, the game in the evening. best-of-seven NLCS with three games from New York’s Citi Field on tap.

It was also the continuation of a miraculous run for Vientos – from an .820 OPS over the final four months of the regular season to the game-winning hit in the postseason opener, the tying run in Game 2 of the NL Division Series and, now, the big home run in a game the Mets desperately needed.

At 24 years and 308 days old, Vientos became the youngest player to hit a grand slam in this round’s history, just 49 days younger than Rafael Devers in 2021. Vientos’ 11 RBIs are tied for the most in postseason history from Mets. a player’s first nine games, along with John Olerud in 1999, Carlos Delgado in 2006 and Daniel Murphy in 2015. All told, Vientos is slashing .378/.410/.676 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in October.

And yet perhaps the most impressive thing about him is this: An unknown player who was out of a job early this season was insulted because an opponent would walk one of the game’s best players ahead of him.

“That’s who he is,” Lindor said of Vientos. ‘I’m glad he took it personally. He has to keep climbing.’

The Dodgers’ pitching staff entered Monday’s game on a streak of 33 consecutive scoreless innings, which tied the most in postseason history with the 1966 Baltimore Orioles. Lindor ended that with an eight-pitch at-bat against opener Ryan Brasier and ending it with a leadoff homerun. The Mets continued to apply pressure in the next inning. Starling Marte led off with a single, Jesse Winker walked and Tyrone Taylor came two batters later with an RBI double, putting runners on second and third base and setting up Lindor’s intentional walk.

Vientos felt ready.

“I want to be there for that at-bat,” he said. “I want them to walk Lindor out in that situation and put me there. And at that point I thought, ‘Let me simplify the game, just get one run in, get a walk – whatever I can do to add another run joints.’ to the score.’ And luckily I hit a bomb.”

Vientos is navigating his first postseason, but his ability to simplify at-bats — slow his thoughts, stay calm, control his body — has stood out to those who have watched him closely. These qualities came to the fore again in his confrontation with Knack. Vientos took a ball on the first pitch and then fouled on back-to-back sliders. Knack used those pitches to set up a high fastball in an attempt for a strikeout, but Vientos fouled the pitch back. Later, he took away two sliders low and “with ease,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.

When he got another fastball – a pitch Vientos was hoping for but not expecting – it went straight up the middle. Instead of aggressively trying to pull the field toward him, Vientos spotted it deep in the zone and hit it to the opposite field, a 100-mph line drive that snuck over the wall in right-center. Vientos went deep on the ninth pitch of the at-bat, tied for the most pitches seen for a grand slam in the past 50 postseasons, according to ESPN Research.

“You didn’t see a big swing,” Mendoza said. “It was, ‘Let me put it in play. Let me stay in the big part of the ballpark.’ And he was able to hit that one. You see the next at bat, against a lefty, he just goes the other way with ease and just shoots the ball the other way. That’s not just a sign that he’s a good hitter is, but also someone who is is mature and in control, no matter what the situation is.”

You can say the same about the 2024 Mets, who have followed all three of their postseason losses with multi-run victories.

Manaea, who transformed his career by dropping his arm slot and throwing across his body, held the Dodgers to just a Max Muncy home run through the first six innings, keeping a big early lead intact. The Mets nearly fumbled it away in a seventh inning that saw Jose Iglesias and Pete Alonso misplay groundballs, but Phil Maton got a red-hot Kiké Hernández to bounce into an inning-ending double play to preserve a three-run lead. Ryne Stanek followed, then Edwin Diaz came in for the save with four outs.

The Mets will now play three straight games at Citi Field.

In other words, they have a chance to clinch one of the most unlikely World Series berths in recent memory at home.

“Playing in front of the New York fans is the best,” Vientos said. “I’m excited to come back.”