Pete Alonso had the biggest night yet of his stellar season, smashing two home runs and driving in five runs as the Mets defeated the Dodgers 6-1 in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.
Starting pitcher Griffin Canning neutralized a potent Dodgers lineup by going six scoreless innings, yielding just three hits and a walk while striking out seven. Reliever Jose Castillo put forth two more scoreless innings before Ryne Stanek gave up a consolation home run to Andy Pages in the bottom of the ninth.
Alonso smoked a two-run shot in the top of the first inning to cap off New York’s three-run frame. After Juan Soto, who walked three times in the win, grounded out to score Francisco Lindor from third, Alonso jumped on Tony Gonsolin’s first offering and took the outside slider the other way into the right-center-field seats.
He put the Mets (39-23) out of sight in the eighth inning to make Dodgers reliever Ryan Loutos pay for hitting Brandon Nimmo and walking Soto. This time, waiting for the second pitch of the at-bat, Alonso demolished a hanging sinker and rocketed it 447 feet over the seats in the left-field stands.
Through 62 games, Alonso now has 14 home runs, a league-leading 53 RBI, and a .949 OPS — further proving that last year’s struggles were an anomaly.
The Mets, who have won five of their last six, have also taken four of six games against the Dodgers this season after being eliminated by them in the NLCS last season.