Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Mets (97-57) was hunting for a much-needed series victory in Oakland against the Athletics (56-97) Sunday evening. With Max Scherzer on the mound, the Mets came through led by an explosive offense and superb pitching. The big blow was Pete Alonso‘s record-setting, two-run home run. At the end of the day, New York emerged victorious, 13-1.

Note, the Braves beat Philadelphia in extra innings to keep the Mets’ division lead at 1.5 games and magic number at eight.

The Mets got the scoring going in the second inning. Tyler Naquin, who got the nod on the day the Mets were facing another left-handed pitcher, came through. He lined a two-out hit to drive in Pete Alonso who reached on an infield single earlier in the inning.

New York added to their lead in the very next inning. Eduardo Escobar, who continues to play his best baseball of the season, lined a two-strike, two-out single with the bases loaded to plate two. Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil walked, while Francisco Lindor singled to set the opportunity up. The Mets were up three after three innings.

For the third-consecutive inning the Mets scored a run. For the second-straight inning it was multiple runs. Lindor, who had just a superb at-bat, blistered a ball that banged off the high left-center field wall. It scored two runs.

Then, history was made. Pete Alonso, who trailed Mike Piazza and David Wright by one RBI for the Mets’ single-season record, launched a no-doubt, two-run home run. It was a terrific moment for Alonso, who knew as soon as he hit the ball he got the record. Just a superb season once again for the Mets’ power hitter.

Max Scherzer‘s day came to an end after six terrific innings. He only allowed four hits and walked only one. Scherzer struck out seven and in doing so only allowed a single run. His season ERA is now down to a sensational 2.13.

New York piled it on in the eighth inning. They loaded the bases thanks to three singles by Tomas Nido, Brandon Nimmo, and Mark Canha. Francisco Lindor then hit a sharp ground ball to drive in his third run of the game. Then, Alonso continued his mammoth day with a three-run double off the wall. In total, the Mets scored five runs in the inning and owned a 12-1 lead.

The Mets added another in the ninth inning for their 13th run of the game. In total, New York logged 19 hits, five of which were for extra bases. Seven Mets’ tallied at least two hits and three had at least three knocks (Nimmo, Lindor, and Alonso). A terrific offensive performance.

Adam Ottavino, and Drew Smith logged scoreless outings. Meanwhile, Seth Lugo ran into some trouble in the ninth inning but the Mets still won, 13-4.

Player of the Game: Pete Alonso

Who else but the franchise’s new single-season RBI record holder? Alonso had himself a game, and as was mentioned above, included a massive two-run home run that broke the record. Alonso also three other hits and ended the game 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored.

On a historic day for Alonso, he also fulled the box score in others way. In total, Alonso is slashing .270/.349/.519 good for a .868 OPS. He has hit 39 home runs and racked up 128 RBI.

On Deck

The Mets have an off day tomorrow before they welcome the Miami Marlins (63-90) to Citi Field for a short two-game set. The probable starters for game one is Pablo Lopez versus Carlos Carrasco, and game two is Jesus Luzardo versus  Taijuan Walker.

Meanwhile, the Braves play their game in hand on the Mets tomorrow against the Nationals. The pitching matchup is to be announced, though the probable for the Nationals is Cory Abbott. That series with Washington is three games long.