Finally for the Mets, signs of life from Pete Alonso at the middle of their order.
New York’s slugger was mired in a miserable slump over a 10-game stretch from April 26 to May 5 in which he went 2-for-36 (.056), prompting manager Carlos Mendoza to give him a rare night off on Monday for its series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals — although he was called in as a replacement in the sixth inning where he 0-for-1.
Back in the starting lineup on Tuesday, it all came together for the 29-year-old, who went 2-for-5 with a double and a home run in the Mets’ 7-5 victory.
“It’s really nice to have a positive impact on the game… I’m just really happy to contribute,” Alonso told reporters (h/t SNY). “I just want to continue to have good, quality at-bats and keep hitting the ball hard to the big part of the field.”
Trailing 3-0 in the fifth inning, Brandon Nimmo tied the game with a three-run shot off Miles Mikolas. Still with no outs in the frame, Starling Marte doubled and Francisco Lindor singled for Alonso, who lasered a double that left the bat at 107.5 mph into the right-center-field gap to give the Mets the lead.
In the ninth inning, Alonso uncorked his ninth home run of the year and his first since April 27, to give the Mets an insurance run. Going to left-center this time, the round-tripper left Alonso’s bat at 109 mph — another indicator that things are coming around, as expected.
“Not real changes, but working on different feels,” Alonso replied when asked if he did anything different to adjust his at-bats during his slump. “Just trying to get back to hitting the ball hard to the big part of the field. That’s the goal every time. It’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”
Alonso’s last three at-bats of Tuesday night’s win all resulted in contact that clocked in at over 100 mph. He had three batted balls that went 100 mph in play in his previous 40 plate appearances.
“He’s the same guy,” Mendoza said of Alonso’s demeanor during his slump. “That’s what makes him such a special player, a special human, and what he means to this team and those guys in the locker room. He wants to win. He’ll be an 0-for but are we shaking hands at the end of the day? That’s all that matters to him and a lot of these guys. He shows up the next day with a smile on his face, grinding, working on his craft. For him to have a game like that, it was good.
For more on Pete Alonso and the Mets, visit AMNY.com
