The Mets won! Really, they did!

It’s hard to remember the last time the vibes with the Mets were as bad as they were coming into today’s game against the Pirates. Following seven straight losses—several of them quite embarrassing ones—the team needed a win in the worst possible way. Fortunately, thanks to a strong start from Kodai Senga and some clutch late-inning hits, the Mets were finally able to get off the schneid, as they came away with a 5-1 victory over Pittsburgh.

Both teams were held scoreless through the first two innings; the highlight of the early going for the Mets was a nice throw from Francisco Álvarez from his knees to catch a runner stealing to help out Senga in the first. The Amazins were ultimately the first to get on the board in the third inning thanks to a leadoff double from Tommy Pham and a subsequent two-out single from Brandon Nimmo. Senga almost gave that run back and more in the bottom of the frame when he issued three straight two-out walks to load the bases, but a jumping catch by Nimmo on a ball in deep center field kept the Pirates off the board and preserved the 1-0 lead.

That lead would not be held for long, however. In the bottom of the fourth, Senga issued yet another walk with one out, and then his defense failed him. He induced back-to-back double play balls, but the Mets failed to turn either one of them. The first one was muffed on the throw by Luis Guillorme (playing shortstop in favor of Francisco Lindor, who served as DH today), which put runners on first and third. The second one was a misplay on a ground ball that went right by Jeff McNeil at second, which tied things up. Senga was able to limit the damage to just that unearned run—thanks in part to a sparkling diving play by Brett Baty on an attempted suicide squeeze—but nevertheless, the poor defensive display by the Mets was quite an unpleasant sight, given the similar issues that befell the team last night.

Thankfully, Senga persevered and ended up having a very solid outing despite his normal walk issues. He got some added help in the fifth inning on yet another sparkling Nimmo play (this time a diving catch to rob Connor Joe of a base hit), and otherwise prevented the Pirates from making any significant threat against him after the fourth. He was also able to go fairly deep into the game despite the walks, making it through seven innings while giving up just two hits and the one unearned run while striking out six.

The Mets offense, meanwhile, managed to get him another lead in the seventh inning. Starling Marte singled to lead off the inning and stole second base to get the go-ahead run in scoring position. After Baty and Tommy Pham struck out, Luis Guillorme worked a 3-0 count, and with first base empty the Pirates elected to intentionally put him on first to face Mark Canha. That proved to be an unwise decision, as Canha knocked a two-RBI double to center field to give the Mets the lead once more.

Of course, we’ve seen the Mets blow multiple leads over the past week, so in the following inning Álvarez wisely decided to add to it by knocking a solo homer to left field off former Met Colin Holderman. And after a scoreless inning by David Robertson to bring the game to the ninth, the bats wisely decided to score one more just in case, with Mark Canha driving in yet another run on another double after Pham singled and stole second to get into scoring position. Adam Ottavino then tossed a perfect ninth inning, and that was that.

So... rejoice! The losing streak has ended! Of course, there’s still a lot of ground to cover in the standings after this abysmal stretch, and plenty of questions about the team’s capabilities remain. But for now, the Mets have paused the bleeding, and they will look to take the series against the Pirates tomorrow.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Kodai Senga, +30.5% WPA
Big Mets loser: Francisco Lindor, -17.4% WPA
Mets pitchers: +37.4% WPA
Mets hitters: +12.6% WPA
Teh aw3s0mest play: Mark Canha two-run double in the seventh, +32.2% WPA
Teh sux0rest play: Run-scoring error from Jeff McNeil in the fourth, -12.7% WPA