Through the early portion of the Mets' new campaign, there has been one constant powering their success.
While sometimes it has been the bullpen, other times the starting pitching and balanced offense, Pete Alonso has carried the momentum throughout. The Mets first baseman is off to one of the best offensive starts in Major League Baseball and continued to lift the Mets up in a 7-6 victory over the Athletics on Friday night at Sutter Health Park.
Alonso finished 3-for-3 with a home run, double and three RBI to guide the Mets to their seventh win in their last eight games and improve to 9-4 in the early going.
"Another day today, some really good at-bats, impacting the baseball," Carlos Mendoza told reporters. We saw the homer, we saw the double, but he's not missing pitches. He's controlling the strike zone. He's a good hitter."
With the Mets leading 2-1 in the fifth inning, Alonso widened the gap with an RBI double into the left-center field gap on the eighth pitch against A's starter JP Sears, plating Juan Soto. It ran Sears from the game.
And in the very next inning, Alonso was the benefactor of Jose Siri's elite speed, as the center fielder scored on a shallow fly ball to right field to make it 4-1.
Alonso's fourth long ball of the season in another lengthy seven-pitch at-bat ended up providing a critical insurance run. He took A's reliever Jose Leclerc deep for a solo shot to left field to boost the Mets ahead 7-4. It was Alonso's National League-leading 18th RBI of the season. He is batting .378 through 13 games and his 1.260 OPS leads Major League Baseball.
"Honestly, just feeling like myself pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat," Alonso said. "I just want to make quality swing decisions and just put the ball in play hard when pitchers come over the plate."
The Mets first baseman is now on a five-game hitting streak, which includes four multi-hit games. He has six games with two hits or more this season.
Edwin Diaz struggles for second straight game
The Mets were fortunate that they carried a three-run lead into the ninth inning because Edwin Diaz did not afford them much wiggle room.
The right-hander pinned down his third save but struggled for the second straight outing at Sutter Health Park.
With the Mets holding a 7-4 advantage heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, Diaz ended up giving two earned runs on a pair of hits and two walks. The Mets closer has now given up five earned runs in his last two appearances.
In the opening at-bat, Diaz issued a four-pitch walk to Lawrence Butler before striking out Brent Rooker on a high fastball. After Butler moved to second base on a defensive indifference, Diaz threw a ball to the backstop as he walked Tyler Soderstrom. Shea Langeliers got the Athletics within two runs with an RBI ...
