Pete Alonso hasn’t ruled out reaching the 40-homer plateau this season, which is good news for the New York Mets.
Alonso went deep twice Thursday afternoon at Colorado, his team-leading 24th and 25th home runs of the season, as the Mets defeated the Rockies 9-1. New York moved a half-game ahead of Atlanta for the National League’s third and final wild-card berth.
Alonso and the Mets will return to sea level Friday night when they open a three-game series at Seattle.
In the mile-high air at Coors Field, Alonso hit a 471-foot blast to left-center in the first inning for his the second-longest homer of his career. He added a 454-foot shot to left in the third.
“Home runs can be happy accidents. Just the result of swinging and capitalizing on a good pitch, hitting it hard to the big part of the field,” Alonso said.
Even with Thursday’s effort, Alonso is on pace for 35 homers, which would be the lowest total in a full season in his career.
“I just think through the course of the season there are ebbs and flows, and ultimately, I just want to help the team win,” Alonso said. “I just want to be the best I can and help get this team to the playoffs.”
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza gladly will take that.
“He’s been hot, cold at times,” Mendoza said of Alonso. “But I’ve been saying it for a long time: He can carry a team for quite a bit, too. We saw it (Thursday). Two balls, he hit them pretty far. And that’s who (he) is.”
While the Mets have the highest winning percentage in the majors over the past two months, the Mariners have blown a 10-game lead in the American League West.
They rallied for a 4-3 victory to avoid a sweep against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday night, as Mitch Haniger hit a three-run double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
That snapped Seattle’s three-game losing streak and moved it into a tie with idle Houston atop the division.
It was Haniger’s franchise-record eighth career walk-off. He also had a bases-loaded walk in the 10th inning Saturday to beat Philadelphia and tie Jim Presley’s mark.
“Anytime you’re on an all-time list is awesome,” Haniger said. “Really blessed and grateful to play this game and to be on the list, and honestly in these situations, (I’m) just trying to keep it simple and stay in the moment. For me, it’s like just breathe and relax and try to take it as any other at-bat.”
Haniger’s bases-loaded liner just got under the glove of diving Tigers right fielder Ryan Vilade and rolled to the wall, allowing all three runners to score.
“We caught a break tonight,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “They weren’t able to make that play, and we’ll take it. We needed it. There are certain points in the year where you need to win a game, and I thought coming into this we needed to win this game. It wasn’t looking great, but our pitching gave us a chance.”
Veteran Mets left-hander Jose Quintana (6-7, 3.95 ERA) is scheduled to take the mound Friday against Mariners right-hander Bryce Miller (8-7, 3.62).
Quintana is 2-1 with a 3.19 ERA in 12 career appearances against Seattle, including nine starts, and Miller will face New York for the first time.
–Field Level Media