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Tuesday night was a special one for 20-year-old Francisco Álvarez. Just five days after being called up from Triple-A Syracuse, he made his Mets debut behind the plate, and even more special, Álvarez collected his first two big league hits, both extra-base hits.

Álvarez put an exclamation point on his first hit of the night, launching a long home run to left-center field in the sixth inning. Carl Edwards Jr. threw Álvarez a curveball and he put the barrel on the ball and launched it out 439 feet into the left-center field bleachers.

With his first big league hit coming by way of the home run, Álvarez becomes the 16th Met whose first career hit was a home run, two others of which happened this season as well. Álvarez joins Nick Plummer and Brett Baty as the three Mets to hit home runs for their first big league hit in 2022.

Álvarez is the youngest (20 years, 319 days) player to hit a home run as a catcher since Ivan Rodriguez (20 years, 222 days) on July 6, 1992.

Then in the eighth inning, Álvarez collected his second big league hit, a double to left field that bounced off the wall off of Erasmo Ramirez. The ball left Álvarez’s bat at 108 mph.

Álvarez spoke with the media following his special and rare night for a 20-year-old.

“It felt good, obviously because it was my first hit; but for it to go out the way that it did, it made me very happy,” said Alvarez.

He did get the ball back and said he plans to give it to his mom.

Álvarez was a name that many had speculated about whether or not he would get the call to the big leagues in 2022. Just a month ago, he was dealing with an injury that many thought would for sure prevent him from making his big league debut this season. But Álvarez didn’t let that stop him. While his debut during the Atlanta series wasn’t what he had hoped for as he went hitless and the Mets were swept, so far against Washington, he has begun to make a name for himself.

Alvarez said in his post-game press conference that he felt like he tried to speed things up too much in Atlanta to try to get that first hit out of the way.

“The adjustment I made was to just calm the game down a little more,” said Álvarez. “I came in today with a different approach.”

That different approach worked as Álvarez launched a home run and a deep double to solidify those first two hits of his big league career.

Buck Showalter also spoke on the young Álvarez’s performance so far, saying he has been impressed.

“I’ve seen it before, but most of it’s been on tape,” said Showalter. “I was impressed with him behind the plate. He was quiet. You know, there’s a lot of emotions flying around but I think he’s handled himself well.”

Time will tell if Álvarez will make the postseason roster, but his Citi Field debut was a good one and one in which he made his case that he has what it takes to perform at this level.