POTW: Acuña Impresses, Manaea Cements Ace Status

The red-hot Mets continued their strong pace, finishing the week 6-1 against the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals. Going into the final week of the regular season with their heads above water, they are a half-game ahead of the Diamondbacks for the second Wild Card spot with the Arizona Diamondbacks while maintaining a two-game lead over the Atlanta Braves.

This week, the Mets’ offense set a franchise record, scoring double-digit runs in three straight games for the first time in club history, and received contributions from top to bottom. This week’s players went above and beyond to earn their honors.

Offensive Player of the Week: Luisangel Acuña

It didn’t take long for Acuña to make a strong impression to start his Major League career, and his call up may not have happened if Lindor hadn’t suffered a back injury. I don’t think anybody could have expected Acuña to replace Lindor’s level of production at the plate in his first week, but he did just that. It was a huge blow when the news came out that Lindor would miss at least a handful of games in the home stretch of a playoff run. Acuña’s combination of speed, contact, power and strong defensive play has given the bottom of the lineup a shot of adrenaline.

Acuña quickly silenced the conversation about whether his power will translate to the next level by hitting three home runs this week, especially considering he only homered seven times across 547 at-bats with Syracuse this season. He might not have the same pure power as his older brother Ronald Acuña Jr., but he’s proving early on that his bat can play. He’s potentially playing his way into regular at-bats even when Lindor returns from injury.

Acuña finished his week 8-for-19 with three homers, two doubles, a triple, six RBIs and six runs.

Pitcher of the Week: Sean Manaea

Manaea is having a career year in his first season in Flushing, and he has only gotten better as each game becomes increasingly more important. He’s been able to pitch deep into games at a consistent clip since the beginning of July. It took Manaea until July 2 to get through seven full innings in a game. He’s now done it nine times this season, including three times each in the past three months showing how consistent he has been. This week he tallied on two of those games in back-to-back starts.

He was magnificent in Monday’s walk-off win against the Nationals despite not being credited with the win. In seven innings, he picked up six strikeouts while allowing one earned run and four hits. His start on Saturday wasn’t as clean, allowing two solo home runs including a first-inning leadoff homer to Kyle Schwarber. Manaea kept his squad in the ballgame with a low pitch count that allowed him to go deep into the game. He allowed three earned runs on three hits and struck out six.

Honorable Mention: Francisco Alvarez

Fans have been waiting for an Alvarez power surge all season and he has tapped into that portion of his game recently. He clobbered three home runs across 18 at-bats and picked up seven RBIs this week. Alvarez has hit five home runs in his last eight games when in the starting lineup. Having him and Acuña simultaneously produce at a high clip at the bottom of the lineup is a big reason the offense has picked it up so quickly, and Alvarez has shown to step up his game when the lights shine the brightest.

Up Next

The Mets on Tuesday start the most important series of their season in Atlanta. With the Braves looking through the window two games behind the Mets in the Wild Card standings, this series will be vital for either team’s odds to play deep into October.

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