SAN FRANCISCO — No need to start printing playoff tickets, but the Mets at least have something resembling a pulse again.
The latest baby step involved winning a series — something the Mets hadn’t accomplished in nearly a month. Most impressive was accomplishing the task against the NL West-leading Giants.
Chris Young was The Giant yesterday, continuing a trend of strong starting pitching for the Mets. With the 6-foot-10 righty in control, the Mets sailed to a 9-1 victory at AT&T Park to win three of four games in the series.
The Mets’ last series victory had come July 3-5, when they won two of three games against the Phillies at Citi Field.
“We had a meeting right before Arizona [last week] and I said, ‘You’re going to see a different club here in the next few days,’ ” manager Terry Collins said. “And I think they’ve shown that. They have come out with a little more energy. Obviously it all starts with real good pitching and we’ve gotten some big hits, a lot of two-out hits. It’s a tough trip and we’ve just got to finish it strong.”
That will mean trying to finish with a series victory in San Diego beginning tonight. If the Mets can sweep the reeling Padres, they can arrive at Citi Field on Tuesday above the .500 mark.
Ronny Cedeno handled the offensive load yesterday, finishing 3-for-5 and tying a career high with five RBIs. The Mets (52-54) won for the fourth time in five games overall.
Young (3-5) got his first win since June 28 by holding the Giants to one run on four hits over seven innings with four strikeouts and no walks. It came after a four-inning performance at Arizona in which Young allowed six earned runs.
“Just the guys coming out and swinging the bats gave me so much room for error,” said Young, who received a four-run lead in the first inning. “It was nice to be able to be aggressive.”
Jason Bay — yes, Jason Bay — stroked a two-run single in helping the Mets grab a 4-0 lead against Barry Zito (8-8) in the first inning. It gave Bay his first multi-RBI game since April 13, when he hit a two-run homer in Philadelphia.
“Obviously the way things have gone that felt good — especially the first inning you kind of get going a little bit,” said Bay, who is 2-for-26 (.077) on the road trip. “But it’s a day-to-day constant battle, a grind.”
Cedeno followed Bay’s single with a shot to left that bounced off Melky Cabrera’s glove and was ruled a two-run double. The Mets’ barrage had started when Zito walked David Wright and Scott Hairston with two outs before drilling Daniel Murphy to load the bases.
Wright’s RBI single in the second gave the Mets another run before they broke it open in the fifth on consecutive RBI singles by Murphy and Cedeno.
Young allowed a run in the fourth, when Cabrera smashed a leadoff triple and scored on Hunter Pence’s sacrifice fly, but then got rolling again, retiring nine of the final 10 batters he faced.
Young didn’t proclaim the Mets back in the playoff hunt, but is encouraged by the progress he’s seen in the last week. The Mets had lost 12 of 13 games before splitting a four-game series in Arizona and then handling the Giants.
“Just to come in and face a good team and win three of four like we did, it was a good series for us and we can build on it and make a push here,” Young said. “I don’t think we’re as bad as we played in [July].”