Entering Friday’s action, Francisco Álvarez had homered in three consecutive games and four of his last five contests. While he didn’t go deep in the Mets’ series opener against the Padres, the 21-year-old recorded the first four-hit night of his career, helping lead the team to their sixth straight win.
Álvarez began his night with a strikeout in the second inning, swinging over an inside splitter from Yu Darvish. In the fourth inning, Álvarez saw nothing but sliders from Darvish and grounded the 2-1 pitch up the middle for a single.
Leading off the top of the sixth inning, Álvarez banged a slider from Adrian Morejon off the wall in left field, but Juan Soto played the carom perfectly, holding the young catcher to just a single. The ball was launched at an exit velocity of 114.1 miles per hour, the highest mark of the night. In the eighth inning, Álvarez fell into an 0-2 hole against Tim Hill, but after getting brushed back by a high fastball, Álvarez lined a heater into left field for his third knock of the night – this one registering an exit velocity of 105.8 MPH.
Álvarez’s biggest at-bat of the night came with a man on second and the Mets leading 4-3 in the top of the 10th inning, facing another lefty reliever in Tom Cosgrove. After laying off a first-pitch slider, Álvarez grounded a fastball just past the outstretched glove of Jake Cronenworth for a single, bringing home Jeff McNeil with an insurance run. This hit was another scorcher off the bat of Álvarez, registering at 102.4 MPH. Álvarez eventually came around to score on Francisco Lindor‘s RBI single later in the frame.
Álvarez hit just .151/.205/.329 in 78 plate appearances in June, including a three-week stretch where didn’t hit a home run. After his four-hit effort on Friday, Álvarez is a scalding 10-for-22 to begin July. For reference – Álvarez had 11 hits total last month. He also struck out 22 times last month but has fanned just three times so far in July. While he struggled earlier in the season in high-leverage situations, Álvarez now has an OPS north of .800 in those situations on the year.
