METS COME ALIVE
Beat Nats at Citi Field to snap 5-game losing streak:
Chaos enveloped the Mets. Rumors about Mickey Callaway’s potential firing were shut down, Yoenis Cespedes broke an ankle on his ranch in Port St. Lucie, the bullpen suffered a major blow and the Mets were set to play their first game since being swept by the last-place Marlins.
The Mets woke up Monday morning searching for ways to snap their five-game losing streak. After a few long and futile days, the Mets finally found something to celebrate.
Amed Rosario was the first Met to say enough’s enough as he crushed a solo homer to center field off left-hander Patrick Corbin in the first inning. Two batters later, Pete Alonso launched a no-doubter to left field and helped lead the Mets to their first win since last Tuesday in a 5-3 victory over the Nationals at Citi Field.
“You can’t live in yesterday,” Alonso said. “Baseball is a funny game. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and when you get knocked down, you have to come back and fight, ready to go tomorrow. There’s a lot of games and we just need to keep winning and get back on track. Tonight was a good start.”
Alonso’s 15th dinger of the year tied a franchise record for most homers by a rookie before the All-Star break with Ron Swoboda, who crushed 15 in 1965. The Mets’ rookie record for homers is 26, set by Darryl Strawberry in 1983, and it’s hard to imagine Alonso not topping that mark.
Wilmer Font was named the starter for the Mets in a somewhat unanticipated move after he gave up five earned runs over 2.1 innings in his last outing in Washington.
Font held the Nationals to two earned runs on three hits (one homer) over four innings on Monday night. The four walks he issued were concerning, but he was able to keep the Mets in the game over 75 pitches. Font even helped his own cause and notched his first career base hit in the second inning.
“I was able to mix pitches better,” Font said of his start Monday. “I was able to get that first-pitch strike better than I did last time.”
With Seth Lugo on the injured list nursing right shoulder tendinitis, Jeurys Familia was asked to preserve a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning. He escaped that frame unscatched, but gave up a double to Anthony Rendon in the eighth.
Southpaw Daniel Zamora inherited Familia’s runner and allowed an RBI single to Juan Soto to make it a 4-3 game. Righty Robert Gsellman, who’s been reliable of late, shut the eighth inning down by recording the final two outs.
Dominic Smith worked yet another successful pinch-hit at-bat in the eighth. With Carlos Gomez on third, Smith sliced an RBI single to center for an insurance run to give the Mets a 5-3 lead. He joined Gomez and Todd Frazier as other Mets to record RBI on Monday.
Edwin Diaz entered the ninth inning well-rested, tossing just 10 pitches over the past eight days. Diaz hit Victor Robles with a 95-mph fastball on his first pitch of the inning then gave up a single to Yan Gomes. But the Mets’ closer battled out of the jam to record his 11th save of the season.