Daniel Vogelbach sparks Mets' offense, racks up 3 RBIs against the Pirates, his former team

As the 2022 MLB trade deadline approached, the Pittsburgh Pirates found themselves sellers for the fourth consecutive season.

With a summer rally unlikely, Pirates general manager Ben Cherington dealt designated hitter Daniel Vogelbach to the surging New York Mets in late July for reliever Colin Holderman.

The 29-year-old Vogelbach originally signed a one-year deal with the Pirates in March, and at the time of his trade, had hit .224 with 34 RBIs through 75 games.

Notably, Vogelbach proved to be one of few Pirates players capable of hitting for power during the first half of the season. He had 12 home runs in 237 at-bats.

“He’s into every at-bat. He’s into every pitch. He loves the game, studies pitchers, is always talking about that,” Cherington said shortly after the trade. “The really good offenses I’ve been around have a lot of that in the clubhouse, in the dugout, just talking about hitting, talking about the pitcher that you’re trying to beat.

“That’s something Vogey did a lot of. Hopefully, it rubs off. You need that on a good team.”

Upon his arrival in New York, Vogelbach quickly endeared himself to the Mets faithful by continuing to hit well.

Over his first six games with the Mets, to close out July, Vogelbach batted .375 with a pair of doubles.

Then he homered in back-to-back games Aug. 3-4, driving in a total of five runners.

Furthermore, Mets fans (and the greater MLB audience, for that matter), soon became even more enamored with him after a video clip showcasing some impressive wheels on the 6-foot, 270-pound Vogelbach went viral.

Daniel Vogelbach went second to home in less than 8 seconds. �� pic.twitter.com/oO7RklVBra

— MLB (@MLB) July 25, 2022

However, suffice to say that the honeymoon period ended some time ago, with Vogelbach’s overall numbers not matching what the Mets, in the midst of a tight divisional race with Atlanta within the NL East, desired from a key trade deadline acquisition.

In August, his first full month with the Mets, Vogelbach slashed .217/.341/.464 with just 15 hits in 25 games.

Leading into the first of four games against the Pirates at Citi Field, Vogelbach had five hits in his last 42 at-bats.

However, Thursday evening against his former team, a 7-1 Mets victory, had Vogelbach’s prints all over it.

He went 2 for 2 with three RBIs.

Vogelbach put the Mets on the board in the bottom of the first inning, smoking a double to the right field wall over the head of Cal Mitchell, plating a pair of runs.

For Mets manager Buck Showalter, Vogelbach sparking his team’s offense came as a relief.

“It was good to get ahead, get some breathing room,” Showalter told reporters after the game. “Those two runs we scored early gave everybody a little breath.”

Before Thursday night, New York had been swept by the Chicago Cubs and were 5-7 in the month of September — not exactly the kind of dominating performance conducive to coming out on top in a neck-and-neck end-of-season divisional race.

Beating the Pirates in game one of three put the Mets (90-55) a full game up over second-place Atlanta (88-55), with the Braves having an off-day Thursday following two straight series losses to San Francisco and Seattle.

Following his two-run double in the first inning, Vogelbach struck again in the third inning, producing an RBI single that put the Mets ahead, 5-1, before being replaced in the fourth inning by Mark Vientos.

“We all know what Vogie’s capable of when he gets it going,” Showalter said.