1 week Ago By The Bergen Record
NEW YORK — There will be plenty of difficult decisions made by opponents against the dangerous top of Mets lineup this season.Marlins first-year manager Clayton McCullough chose wrong on Tuesday.The Miami skipper opted to stay away from Juan Soto and felt the wrath of Pete Alonso.
"It feels like teams are trying to not get beat by Soto, then before you know it, they're making mistakes with Pete and he's been ready to go and making them pay," Carlos Mendoza said prior to the game.Mendoza's pregame message proved to be prophetic. After the Marlins had closed to within one run against the Mets, they intentionally walked Soto to load the bases with one out in the top of the sixth inning.
Alonso punished that choice, cranking a three-run double into the left-center field gap.The Mets first baseman played a starring role once again for the Mets as they took down the Marlins, 10-5, to claim their sixth straight win on a wintry Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field.It was not the only offensive breakthrough for the Mets, who matched their season high for runs.
Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte each drove in two runs.The Mets are now 8-3 on the season and have claimed their third straight series victory.Pete Alonso's torrid runMaybe McCullough forgot what Alonso had done to his Marlins nearly one week earlier when the Mets star blasted a three-run home run to awaken his team's offense in a 6-5 extra-inning win.
Alonso continued his torrid start on Tuesday as he finished 2-for-3 with a pair of doubles, four RBI and a run scored. After the Marlins went ahead 2-1, Alonso's RBI double that fell in along the right-field line plated Soto as the tying run in the bottom of the third.The Mets first baseman entered the game slashing .
314/.429/.657.
With four more RBI, Alonso is now third in Major League Baseball with 15 RBI, behind only the Yankees' Aaron Judge and Cubs' Kyle Tucker.It was Alonso's fifth multi-hit game of the season. Clay Holmes' first Mets victoryAs he made his home debut as a member of the Mets, Holmes settled in after a rough opening inning to pin down the win.
In the first inning, Holmes gave up a leadoff single to Xavier Edwards and issued back-to-back two-out walks to load the bases before Liam Hicks knocked a two-run double down the line.But from there, Holmes managed to turn in his longest outing since he transitioned to a starting role. He struck out a career high 10 batters and recorded eight straight outs between the third and sixth innings as the Mets built a 6-2 lead.
The Mets right-hander had not last more than 42⁄3 innings in either of his first two starts. But some late traffic hurt Holmes' ERA as a walk and double ended his afternoon in the top of the sixth inning. Huascar Brazoban allowed a run to score on a chopper to the right side followed by a two-run home run to Derek Hill.
Holmes finished with four earned runs allowed on five hits and three walks as his ERA floated up from 2.89 to 4.30.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Pete Alonso punishes Marlins, leads NY Mets to sixth straight win.
