Carlos Mendoza was going for it.
He was using his bullet.
Tying run on second base, right-handed pitcher on the mound.
DJ Stewart wasn’t going to have to wait any longer.
“I told him before the game to be ready for a potential at-bat there. I felt it was a good opportunity to take a chance there,” the first-year Mets’ manager said of his decision to use Stewart as a pinch-hitter in the sixth inning of a one-run game. “It was good to see him ready from pitch one. That was the game for me right there.”
![DJ Stewart drove in the game-tying run for the Mets on Monday in their eventual win against the Pirates.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/mets-stewart-main-1-js.jpg?w=1024)
It worked.
Stewart drove in the tying run with a double off reliever Hunter Stratton, then drew a key walk two innings later against former Yankee Aroldis Chapman.
The two at-bats were key as the Mets rallied to knock off the Pirates, 6-3, winning for the eighth time in 11 games to get back to .500 after an 0-5 start.
It was another productive game for Stewart, the team’s part-time designated hitter who has rebounded well from a rough start.
He has hit safely in four of his last five games after going 0-for-12 with six strikeouts to begin the year.
![DJ Stewart has hit safely in four of the Mets' last five games.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/04/mets-stewart-inset-1-rs.jpg?w=1024)
He only has five hits on the season, but they have driven in seven runs.
“I think I’m relaxed a little bit more. [Mendoza] tells me every day to smile,” Stewart said. “I think he could see I was stressing out a little but, just everything that’s gone on the beginning of the season, but relaxed, getting good work, talking to my teammates.”
Perhaps his most impressive at-bat was his walk in the eighth inning, which led to a go-ahead, Harrison Bader two-run double.
The hard-throwing Chapman is notoriously tough on left-handed hitters.
But Stewart was able to work out a walk.
“I’ve actually faced him quite a few times in my career in Baltimore. Haven’t had much success off of him. I don’t think many people do — that’s why he’s been so successful his whole career,” Stewart said “I had a plan of what I was looking for. He didn’t really give me the one I was looking for to get a hit. I was fortunate to draw a walk there.”