Mets 13, Guardians 6: Semien, Torrens, and a Three-Game Sweep in Cleveland

August 6, 2026 - Cleveland - Last place teams are not supposed to look like this on the road. For three days, the Mets did not care what the standings said.

Marcus Semien and Luis Torrens went deep in the second, Francisco Lindor added a three-run shot later, and the New York Mets finished a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Guardians with a 13-6 win at Progressive Field.

Griffin's first Guardians start goes sideways

Foster Griffin, acquired from Washington at the trade deadline, made his first start for Cleveland and lasted four innings with five runs allowed. Semien and Torrens both homered in the second, Torrens' two-run shot putting New York ahead 3-2. Carson Benge tripled home another run in the third. Griffin (12-4) worked out of trouble in the fourth and still left trailing.

That was the best Cleveland's pitching looked all afternoon. By the eighth, Slade Cecconi faced five batters without recording an out as New York piled on four more runs for a 13-5 cushion.

Lindor's seventh, and a bullpen that just held on

Nolan McLean (8-7) earned the win even after Nathaniel Lowe's three-run homer in the fifth cut the Mets' lead to 6-5. McLean stranded two runners to escape the inning and qualify for the decision. That was the Guardians' high-water mark. Everything after it belonged to New York.

Lindor's three-run homer in the seventh off Craig Yoho turned a one-run game back into a blowout. Benge, Semien, and Luis Robert Jr. each finished with three hits. Torrens drove in three. The Mets collected 18 hits and their third series sweep of the season, the first of them on the road.

Free fall in Cleveland

Cleveland (57-59) has lost 11 of 14 and fell a half-game behind Texas in the race for the final AL wild card. A club that spent much of the summer looking like a lock for October is now watching last-place New York leave town with a sweep and all the momentum.

The Mets (50-66) remain buried in the NL East. That does not make a three-game road sweep meaningless. It makes it a reminder that the roster still has nights when the middle of the order stacks hits and the opposing starter cannot find the zone. Series like this are how rebuild narratives get complicated.

AthX Engine angle

New York finished with 23 AthX Engine team fantasy points, second only to Detroit's 25 on the slate. Semien graded out at 12 hitting FP. Torrens added 10. When a lineup scores 13 and spreads the damage across three hits from three different bats, the team board lights up even if no single player runs away with the night.

Track Marcus Semien, Luis Torrens, and the Mets boards on the marketplace. Information only; not financial advice.

What it means

Cleveland needs answers faster than the schedule will give them. New York needs this version of the lineup more than once every few weeks. For one Thursday in August, the visitors had every answer and the home club had a first start it will want to forget.

*Sources: MLB.com gameday final, ESPN recap, AthX Engine daily scoring for August 6, 2026. Information only; not financial advice.*