AMAZIN’ FEAT
PAIR OF PETE HRs PUSH HIM PAST 100 FOR CAREER AS METS FEAST ON FISH
MIAMI — In a season of mostly disappointing performances from Mets hitters, Pete Alonso has refused to follow the trend.
The team’s most consistent force this season, Alonso reached a milestone Tuesday night, when he blasted a shot over the left field fence at loanDepot park in the first inning. The homer was No. 100 in a celebrated young career that may not have yet reached full potential. For good measure, Alonso homered again in the ninth, the final dagger to the Marlins in the Mets’ 9-4 victory.
“Hopefully I get two, three, four, five, six-hundred more,” Alonso said after the Mets won for the ninth time in 12 games to remain four games behind the Braves in the NL East race.
Alonso, who established a MLB rookie record with 53 homers in 2019, reached the century mark in 347 games. He became the second-fastest all-time to 100 homers, behind the Phillies’ Ryan Howard, who needed just 325 games to reach the mark.
Alonso, who leads the Mets with 32 homers this season, was asked if he was prepared to carry the team on his back for these final 23 games if needed.
“I take pride in driving guys in and putting runs on the board,” Alonso said. “This is such a team game and there are so many different facets to win, but I just want to be as productive as I possibly can. I can’t necessarily control the outcome of the games a lot of the time, but every time I am in that box I want to impact the game and help us win. And I want to be a big part of that.”
On Tuesday, each team committed three errors, but the difference might have been the seven batters Marlins pitchers put on base through walks and hit batters.
Aaron Loup, Trevor May, Brad Hand and Miguel Castro combined on four innings of scoreless relief behind Carlos Carrasco, who earned his first win with the Mets. That relief helped to bury the memory of Edwin Diaz’s ninth-inning meltdown in Washington a day earlier that cost the Mets a chance to further narrow the gap on Atlanta.
“We didn’t play our best baseball,” manager Luis Rojas said. “I think it cost us runs and it cost [Carrasco] extra pitches because he probably could have given us a little more. In this outing we used another inning out of our bullpen that we probably wouldn’t have used if we played better baseball defensively.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. booted Jonathan Villar’s potential inning-ending double play grounder in the sixth, scoring Jeff McNeil and putting
the Mets ahead before Francisco Lindor delivered the key blow with a two-run single that extended the lead to 7-4. The rally was fueled by Joe Panik’s throwing error to the pitcher covering first base on Patrick Mazeika’s grounder.
Alonso hit a two-run blast in the first and solo shot in the ninth, homer No. 101.
“Hitting that triple digit, it’s a lot to reflect on in a positive way,” he said.
The Mets scored twice to build a 4-1 lead in an ugly third inning in which Edward Cabrera walked the bases loaded before Michael
Conforto and Javier Baez were drilled by pitches in succession. The righthanded Cabrera was removed after just 2 ¹/3 innings and charged for four earned runs.
Sabotaged by his defense, Carrasco allowed four runs (three of which were unearned) on seven hits and one walk with four strikeouts over five innings. The right-hander threw a season-high 92 pitches.
Carrasco allowed three straight singles to begin his night, the last of which, by Jesus Sanchez, brought in a run. The right-hander also walked Jorge Alfaro in the inning, but escaped without another run scoring.
In the second, Cabrera delivered an RBI double after Lindor booted Alvarez’s grounder for an error. Carrasco got the next three outs to keep the runner at second base.
The Marlins tied it 4-4 in the third. After a Villar throwing error placed runners on second and third, Isan Diaz’s sacrifice fly and Eddy Alvarez’s RBI double brought in the runs. Lewis Brinson’s leadoff single against Carrasco began the rally.