Mets' Pete Alonso hits HR No. 250, Francisco Lindor, Brandon Nimmo total seven RBIs in rout of Giants
The Mets’ Pete Alonso runs home on his three-run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the first inning of an MLB game at Citi Field on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The Mets entered Saturday’s game on a four-game losing streak and had scraped together a total of four runs in their previous three games.
But their offensive dry spell turned into a collective outburst on Saturday, when they had 13 hits in a 12-6 victory over the Giants in front of 43,455 at a sold-out Citi Field.
Francisco Lindor went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, Brandon Nimmo was 3-for-4 with three RBI singles and Pete Alonso (2-for-4) hit his 250th career homer, a three-run blast in the first inning that opened the scoring and moved him within two of record-holder Darryl Strawberry on the franchise’s all-time list. All nine Mets starters reached base.
“Those guys at the top, they’re special,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “When they get going, we’re pretty dangerous. And we saw it [Saturday], and we need them.”
The Mets (63-48) moved a half-game in front of the Phillies — who fell to Detroit, 7-5 — for first place in the NL East.
A nearly no-sweat win after a tough week allowed the Mets to take a deep breath, but not for long.
“For maybe like 30 minutes after the game, but then it’s on to the next because we got to face them again [Sunday],” Alonso said.
Kodai Senga, making his fourth start since returning from a right hamstring strain, was not sharp in four innings. He allowed four runs, five hits and three walks, hit a batter and struck out four.
“[He’s] having a hard time with the feel of the strike zone,” Mendoza said. “Non-competitive pitches. A lot of three-ball counts, walks, hit by pitch, and then he got behind the counts. When he came in, they made him pay. Yeah, he’s just got to stay on the attack, be aggressive with all of his pitches, and he’s not doing that right now. We got to help him.”
Senga threw only 71 pitches, a dip from 92 last Sunday.
“My body is great,” Senga said through an interpreter. “I have no issues with my body. Mechanically, I may be overcompensating in certain areas, just not all the way back yet, maybe. But again, trying to get back to the best performance as quickly as possible.”
The Mets’ bullpen shut out the Giants for the next four innings after Senga exited with a 5-4 lead.
Reed Garrett (3-4) followed with a perfect 1 1/3 innings and Gregory Soto struck out two batters after allowing a one-out single in the sixth. Submariner Tyler Rogers pitched a scoreless seventh against his former team in his Mets debut and Brooks Raley threw a scoreless eighth.
The Mets extended their lead to 7-4 in the sixth on RBI singles by Nimmo and Lindor. They scored four runs with two outs in the seventh, helped by an RBI single by Nimmo and a two-run double by Lindor, and added their 12th run in the eighth.
Alonso’s 428-foot blast, his second homer in two games, gave the Mets a 3-0 lead.
“It felt really special,” he said of reaching 250 career homers. “I was just really happy to help the team right there, especially in the first inning.”
Senga loaded the bases with none out in the second but the Giants (55-56) mustered only one run on a double-play groundout.
After recording back-to-back strikeouts to start the third, Senga issued a four-pitch walk to Matt Chapman and served up a 3-and-1 fastball over the middle of the plate to former Met Dominic Smith, whose two-run homer tied the score at 3.
The Giants took a 4-3 lead in the fourth on Grant McCray’s RBI single that one-hopped the rightfield wall.
The Mets knocked out Giants righthander Kai-Wei Teng with one out in the fourth. He allowed five runs and four hits in his first MLB start.
Cedric Mullins singled to lead off the inning for his first hit as a Met, sparking a two-run rally that gave his new club a 5-4 lead. He stole second, Brett Baty walked and Nimmo’s single trickled past second baseman Casey Schmitt’s dive, tying it at 4.
With runners on first and third and one out, Lindor pushed a bunt directly at first baseman Smith, who seemed to have an easy play to get Baty at home. But Smith never looked at catcher Andrew Knizner, who had both arms raised, and immediately turned to an uncovered second base. The Giants did not get an out on the play and Lindor’s run-scoring bunt was ruled a single.
“He’s a ballplayer,” Mendoza said. “Instincts. It’s a situation where you got first and third against a lefty and the second baseman is way up the middle. It’s part of his game that he hasn’t used much the past couple of years, but I’m glad he did it.”
Said Alonso: “The push bunt for a run, that was the biggest at-bat of the game.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
