Alonso goes deep twice to reach 40 homers and 100 RBIs as Mets top AL West-leading M’s
NEW YORK – Pete Alonso homered twice and drove in four runs, reaching 40 homers and 100 RBIs for the second consecutive season as the New York Mets beat the first-place Seattle Mariners 6-3 on Sunday.
Jeff McNeil also went deep – after finishing a homer shy of the cycle Saturday night – and New York took two of three games from the Mariners to hand them their first series loss since Aug. 11-13 against Baltimore.
Seattle began the day leading the AL West by one game over Houston and two over Texas.
Alonso hit an RBI single in the first inning before his two-run shot in the third made him the fifth player in major league history with at least three 40-homer seasons in his first five campaigns, joining Hall of Famers Ralph Kiner and Eddie Matthews as well as Ryan Howard and Albert Pujols.
Alonso’s solo homer in the seventh gave him 100 RBIs for the third time. His 41 home runs are tied for the second-most in a season in franchise history with Todd Hundley and Carlos Beltran. Alonso holds the team record with 53 as a rookie in 2019.
Sunday’s other games
Red Sox 7, Royals 3: Masataka Yoshida hit a three-run homer and Adam Duvall had a solo shot to back Chris Sale as visiting Boston won the series with its second straight victory. Sale (6-3) didn’t allow a run over five innings, gave up two hits and struck out five while walking two. It was the first time he hasn’t allowed a run in a start since July 12 of last season. Yoshida’s three-run homer went 415 feet to right field, scoring Justin Turner and Triston Casas in the fourth inning. It was the Japanese rookie’s 14th homer on the year. Duvall added a home run in the sixth inning for his 19th of the season and gave Boston a 4-0 lead.
Marlins 6, Nationals 4: Luis Arráez led off the game with his sixth homer and scored the go-ahead run on a throwing error in the ninth inning as visiting Miami completed its first-ever fourgame sweep of Washington. Reigning NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara worked eight strong innings as the Marlins moved three games over .500 in September for the first time in a full season since their 73-69 start in 2010. “You hope to come in here and win a series,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “Four out of four was kind of icing on the cake. The way we pitched today and this series was why we won all four of those games, and our offense came alive.” Arráez went 2-for-4 and scored twice. He raised his MLB-best batting average to .356, 15 points higher than the Texas Rangers’ Corey Seager (.341). “I feel a little tired because we are human, but I am glad I am healthy,” Arráez said. “I just do the same what I do to starting the year. I had struggling months, but it’s past. I’m a human. I’m not perfect. I just go there and try to do my job.”
Cardinals 6, Pirates 4: Jordan Walker homered and Zack Thompson tossed seven effective innings to keep host St. Louis from getting swept in three games by Pittsburgh. Nolan Gorman added a two-run single for the Cardinals and Alec Burleson broke a 3-all tie with a two-run single in the fourth. Miguel
Andujar homered for the Pirates, who had their five-game winning streak snapped. Pittsburgh was looking for its first threegame sweep in St. Louis since May 1991. Walker gave the Cardinals a 3-1 lead with his 14th homer in the third. He also doubled and scored in the seventh. Thompson (4-5) allowed three runs and seven hits on 92 pitches. He struck out six. The Cardinals are off Monday; it’s their first Labor Day without a game since 1993.
Phillies 4, Brewers 2: Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto hit backto-back homers to open the seventh inning and visiting Philadelphia avoided being swept despite getting held hitless until the sixth. Wade Miley silenced the Phillies for much of the day as the Brewers built a 2-0 lead. He didn’t allow a hit until Trea Turner delivered a shot that went off the glove of third baseman Andruw Monasterio and headed into left field for a twoout single in the sixth. Nick Castellanos followed that with an RBI double. Miley (7-4) had thrown only 74 pitches through the first six innings and came back out for the seventh. The Phillies — whose previous two games were both 7-5 losses to the Brewers — capitalized. Bohm led off the inning by sending a 2-1 changeup over the wall in left center. Realmuto followed with a 443-foot drive to center off a 1-0 cutter as he homered for a second straight game. Miley struck out Bryson Stott but walked Cristian Pache before leaving the game. Turner added a twoout RBI single that extended Philadelphia’s lead to 4-2. Although he collected two hits, Turner failed to homer Sunday after going deep in five consecutive games to tie a Phillies franchise record.
Cubs 15, Reds 7: Ian Happ had four RBIs while Mike Tauchman and Cody Bellinger each drove in three to help visiting Chicago cruise to a split of a critical four-game series between the contending divisional rivals. Nick Madrigal and Tauchman each drove in two with bases-loaded singles off Reds All-Star closer Alexis Diaz in the seven-run Cubs eighth. Bellinger drove in another with a sacrifice fly, and a double by Dansby Swanson pushed two more across before the Reds could get out of it. “I feel like how our offense goes – it starts with a soft single here and a soft single there, and then we kind of continue to put together good at-bats and it feels kind of contagious,” Tauchmann said. The Cubs, who banged out 18 hits, added three more runs in the ninth, including a solo homer by ex-Tiger Jeimer Candelario.
Angels C Stassi to miss 2023 with family medical issue
OAKLAND, Calif. – Los Angeles Angels catcher Max Stassi has announced he will miss the entire 2023 season because of a serious family medical issue.
The Angels placed Stassi on the restricted list Sunday after he informed them of his decision. Stassi left the team during spring training to deal with the family medical issue and to recover from a hip injury.
Stassi told the team he is capable of returning to baseball activities now, but he is choosing not to do so. Putting Stassi on the restricted list means he won’t be paid the remainder of his $7 million salary for this season, a move that likely allows the Angels to get their payroll below the luxury tax threshold.