Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets capped off a successful season-opening road trip by holding off Bryce Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies in a 9-6 win on Wednesday afternoon at Citizens Bank Park.
Right-hander Max Scherzer put together another strong performance in his second start of the season, tossing five innings of one-run ball while striking out seven. The offense also carried their weight, with the top of the order leading the way.
Right in the middle of things for that unit was their clean-up hitter, Pete Alonso. The big man finished the afternoon 3-for-5 with a pair of run-scoring doubles and what turned out to be a massive three-run home run.
Postgame, Alonso told SNY’s Steve Gelbs that he was just really happy to be able to help the team pull out the series-clinching victory.
“I feel like I’ve been hitting the ball really hard to the big part of the field and I’ve been putting together some really polished at-bats. Today balls just found some grass and one landed in the seats, it feels really good,” he said.
With the Mets leading 1-0 against right-hander Aaron Nola, Starling Marte led off the top of the fourth with a single. Alonso followed that up by lining a double into the left-field corner, and some solid base running allowed Marte to score from first and extend the lead.
An inning later, Alonso traded places with Francisco Lindor at second as he drove him home with another double to make it 4-1 Mets. He followed that up with his big blow in the sixth, crushing an opposite-field three-run homer to give the Mets an 8-1 lead.
“That was a big moment in the game that kind of put us ahead by a bunch,” Alonso said. “Philly has a great offense, they’re a great team. They started to come back there, but I feel like coming through like that was huge for the team.”
Wednesday marked the second time over the first seven games that Alonso served as the designated hitter with Dominic Smith manning first base. As he’s said, Alonso indicated he sees himself as a full-time first baseman rather than just a DH, but he trusts Showalter’s decisions no matter what.
“I would rather be out there, but I know that Buck’s the one that writes the lineup and I know he’s trying to win every single day. I love to play first base every day, Dom is a great first baseman as well.. I trust Buck. I trust every single lineup that he writes,” Alonso said.
After a day off Thursday, Big Pete and the boys will look to keep the good times rolling in their home opener on Friday afternoon against the Arizona Diamondbacks. After the successful road trip, Alonso said he’s looking forward to finally getting back home in front.
“We played so extremely well this road trip, and I’m just really excited to play in front of Mets fans. It’s going to be a fun year and I can’t wait to get back to Citi,” he said.
