NEW YORK — The weather at Citi Field might have been chilly all weekend, but it did little too cool Pete Alonso‘s hot start to the season.
The first baseman went 2 for 3 with an RBI single Sunday against the Toronto Blue Jays, helping the Mets to a 2-1 win for the first series sweep of the season. The Mets have now won four in a row and six of their last seven.
“We’re firing on all cylinders here,” Alonso said. “It’s a really tough league to hit. There are guys doing a great job of staying in counts and taking good swings and taking good pitches.”
Alonso drove in his 11th run this season with a third-inning single off right-hander Bowden Francis. The Mets’ leader in single-season RBI with 131 in 2022, Alonso is currently tied for second in the NL with four others. With two on and one out, Alonso lined one to left to score Hayden Senger and give the Mets a 1-0 lead. Brandon Nimmo scored Juan Soto with a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Soto, who reached on a walk, extended his on-base streak to nine games.
“He’s not trying to do too much, and he doesn’t need to,” Nimmo said. “If he finds the barrel, good things happen. He’s been adjusting well, he’s been able to kind of make the little adjustments [to] what the different pitchers are trying to do to him and find the barrel. And for him, that’s the name of the game.”
While the top of the order has been productive, the Mets have gotten little from the middle or the bottom.
The Mets chased Francis from the game in the bottom of the sixth, with the Blue Jays bringing in Chad Green to face the 6-8 hitters. Mark Vientos walked to load the bases with one out, but Brett Baty struck out and Jose Siri popped up to center field to leave them loaded.
However, the bullpen is there to protect leads, and the Mets were once again able to rely on it, especially after losing starter David Peterson early when he was suddenly overcome with nausea and blurred vision on the mound.
Peterson cruised through four innings before the Mets removed him after hitting Andres Gimenez with the bases loaded. Right-hander Max Kranick came in to get the third out.
Catcher Tyler Heineman took a leadoff double off Peterson before the lefty retired the Nos. 9 and 1 hitters. After walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Peterson came off the mound doubled over.
“I threw a pitch and got the ball back, and then my vision just went blurry,” Peterson said. “The vision then started to come back, but my stomach turned over on me, and just felt worse with every breath I took. I just felt like I got punched in the stomach and was going to throw up. That’s when I stepped off, and [the trainers] came out and I took some breaths. It kind of went away.”
The trainers came out to attend to him, ultimately allowing him to stay in the game after watching him throw a few pitches to Senger. Peterson pleaded to stay in the game, settling himself as his stomach started to settle. But by then, he had lost his control.
He walked Anthony Santander on five pitches and hit Gimenez with the first pitch of the at-bat.
“I felt like I had Gimenez in the left-on-left matchup,” he said. “And then obviously hit him, and that was it.”
Manager Carlos Mendoza leapt from the dugout and signaled to the bullpen for Kranick, sending Peterson to get checked out by doctors. This came out of nowhere for Peterson, and it was the first time he could remember anything like that happening to him. His day was normal up until that point, and he expects to be ready for his next start.
The bullpen was taxed already after a close game Friday and an extra-inning contest Saturday night. Right-hander Ryne Stanek was unavailable after warming up three times Saturday, and so was Huascar Brazobán, who pitched 2 1/3 innings in the second game of the series to bridge the gap to closer Edwin ...
