A.J. Ewing hits first home run since July in Mets loss to Giants

A.J. Ewing hit his first home run since July during Saturday's loss to the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field, per MLB.com — a personal milestone tucked inside a team defeat for a New York club that has spent most of the second half playing out the string.

What happened

MLB.com reported that Ewing connected for his first home run since July, snapping what the outlet described as a prolonged power drought. The game ended as a Mets loss to the Giants, with the probable pitching matchup featuring Zac Thornton against Anthony Molina. The long ball was the headline on an otherwise difficult afternoon for New York.

Why it matters

There is a particular kind of September at-bat that exists almost entirely for the player — a chance to finish a season with something to build on rather than something to explain. Ewing's home run lands in that category. The Mets were eliminated from the NL East division race before this series began, sitting 20 games back in the standings, so the competitive stakes of any individual swing have been recalibrated accordingly. What remains meaningful is individual development, and a hitter rediscovering his power stroke in the final weeks of a long season is exactly the kind of data point a front office files away.

The drought itself — stretching back to July, per MLB.com — is the context that gives the home run its weight. A gap that long is not a slump in the conventional sense; it is a stretch that starts to raise structural questions about a hitter's approach, his swing path, or simply the randomness that governs a sport played over a very long summer. Ewing answered at least one version of those questions on Saturday, even if a single home run does not close the file.

Where the club stands

New York enters Sunday at 65-78 (.455), fifth in the NL East and 20 games behind the division leader. In the Wild Card picture, the Mets rank 10th, sitting 10.5 games relative to the cut line — a margin that makes the postseason a mathematical abstraction rather than a live conversation. The club arrives at Sunday's game having won their most recent contest, carrying a one-game winning streak into the finale of the Giants series.

New York closes out that series Sunday at Citi Field, with Christian Scott scheduled against Cesar Perdomo. From there, the Mets travel to Miami for a Monday date at loanDepot park, where Jonah Tong is listed as the probable starter against Eury Pérez.

That Tong appearance is worth noting on its own terms. MLB.com reported earlier this week that the prospect was under discussion for a call-up as early as the Miami road trip, and the Mets subsequently announced he had been called up and would start Monday — a sequence that moved from speculation to roster reality within a few days. His presence in the rotation gives the final weeks of the season a developmental dimension that extends beyond Ewing's bat.

The roster has been active in recent days. Two days before Tong's call-up was announced, the Mets claimed right-hander Cameron Weston off waivers from Baltimore and optioned him to Triple-A Syracuse, adding organizational depth at a position where the club has been cycling arms throughout the second half. Earlier in the week, right-hander Justin Hagenman was activated from the 60-day injured list and was expected to make a spot start against the Rays — another piece of a pitching staff that has been assembled and reassembled with the particular creativity that September's expanded roster rules allow.

Under general league mechanics, rosters expand from 26 to 28 players beginning September 1, which gives clubs the flexibility to carry additional arms and position players through the end of the regular season. The Mets have used that window to bring in multiple pitchers and evaluate options heading into the offseason, which is the honest framing for what this stretch of games represents.

What we don't know yet

MLB.com's report on Ewing's home run does not include detail on the game's final score, the inning or situation in which he connected, or how the at-bat unfolded. The confidence level on the underlying report is moderate, meaning the drought-ending nature of the home run is attributed to MLB.com's characterization rather than a formal club announcement. Whether Ewing's power returns with any consistency over the final weeks of the season is, by definition, unresolved.

The broader question of how the Mets evaluate their roster construction heading into the offseason — which players from this September group factor into future plans — is not addressed in the available material.

What to watch

The most immediate item is Sunday's series finale, with Scott on the mound against the Giants before the club heads south to Miami. Tong's Monday start against Eury Pérez will draw attention as a look at a prospect making his way back into the big league rotation, and how he handles that assignment will matter more to the organization's winter planning than the outcome of a late-September game between two clubs outside the playoff picture.

For Ewing specifically, the question is whether Saturday's home run represents a genuine mechanical correction or simply the kind of thing that happens when a hitter gets enough at-bats — the drought ending not because anything changed, but because the sample eventually caught up. That distinction is genuinely hard to make in real time, which is part of what makes September baseball interesting even when the standings have long since settled. The Mets are 65-78 and playing out a schedule. Within that, individual players are writing the parts of their résumés that will matter next spring, and Ewing added a line on Saturday that he did not have on Friday.