Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

We’re firmly in the dog days of summer but Pete Alonso continues to pile up statistics that you wouldn’t expect to see until October. After being shut down in the tough series loss to the Atlanta Braves earlier in the week, the slugger and his bat exploded to help the Mets take the opening game of a four-game series against the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on Friday night.

Alonso was successfully shut down by the Braves pitching staff in Atlanta, being limited to just one hit and two RBI in 15 plate appearances, while being struck out six times. It was the rare instance in which the two-time Home Run Derby Champion just couldn’t get anything going offensively, and he entered Friday having failed to hit a home run in 54 straight at-bats. Baseball is more about failure than success and, for Alonso, it was about flushing the Braves series quickly and moving on to a new day.

“I mean, it is the same job every single day,” Alonso said. “Sometimes it is tougher than others and I thought the Braves did a really good job of pitching against us. I know it is a really tough pill to swallow but you’ve just got to tip your hat. I felt (on Friday) we just did a really good job of capitalizing on stuff in the zone. We didn’t really face a whole lot and I felt we did a really good job one through nine of controlling the at-bats and really capitalizing on the few mistakes they gave us to hit.”

It was true. The entire Mets lineup did a much better job of creating gritty at-bats against the Phillies, and they went back to clever contact and putting the ball in play. They did a good job of manufacturing runs all night and running the bases well to apply pressure on the defense, something which paid off in the top of the first as Alonso reached first on a fielder’s choice to score Brandon Nimmo and give the Mets an early lead.

While the play itself won’t live long in the memory, it will forever hold a lot of significance for Alonso given that it proved to be his 100th RBI of the season. And it is only August. That’s quite the accomplishment and Alonso became the quickest Met to reach 100 RBIs in a season, doing it in just 120 games. The previous record was 122 games, which was held by Carlos Beltran (2006), Mike Piazza (2000), and Robin Ventura (1999). That stat alone is testament to how dominant Alonso has been all year, and he earned special praise from Mets manager Buck Showalter after the game.

“He’s handled it so professionally because he holds himself to such a high standard and he wants to be everything for us every night,” Showalter said. “He takes pride in his defense, in his baserunning, driving in runs and, regardless of how he’s gotten here, when you look up and see 100 RBI next to his name in the middle of August, it is impressive. It is just an honor to watch Pete and Francisco (Lindor) play every day.”

The Mets tacked on to their lead in the third thanks to some typical pure Alonso power at the plate. Having failed to homer in his previous 54 at-bats, the slugger broke out of his long ball slump by delivering a typical Alonso moonshot. With one runner on base and two outs, Alonso launched 353ft blast inside the left field foul pole to score two more runs. It was the 27-year-old’s 30th home run of the year and it is now the third time he has hit at least 30 homers in his career. He was also responsible for the first three runs of the game.

“It is great,” Alonso said about reaching both the 30 homers and 100 RBI milestones in the same night. “I’m just trying to do the best I can to help this team win. My job is to produce offensively, play first base to the best of my ability, run the bases and don’t give away free outs. For me, I’m really happy and satisfied with my consistency this year and I want to keep on being the best version of myself so I can help this team win through the rest of this season and hopefully throughout the playoffs.”

Alonso also hit a double in the ninth inning – his 23rd double of the year – to finish 2-for-5 with 3 RBI, and he continues to torment this Phillies team this season. After Friday night, Alonso now has at least six home runs and 22 RBI vs. the Phillies in a single season. Only one other player has accomplished that feat over the last 60 years, and that player was Eric Davis with the Reds in 1987. And Alonso gave his thoughts as to why he’s been so red hot at the plate against the Phillies this season.

“It’s interesting,” Alonso said. “I don’t know, sometimes you can’t really pick and choose when it happens. I mean, I’m really happy how I’ve swung the bat so far this year overall, but sometimes you can’t really control it. I try my best every single day whatever pitch is there over the plate in my zone I just try to capitalize and put it hard in play.”

Alonso is now hitting .275/.352/.529/.881 on the year with 30 home runs, 23 doubles, 102 RBI and a 3.2 WAR, and one of the keys to his success this season has been his ability and toughness to quickly put mini slumps behind him and break out in key moments. That was certainly the case on Friday and if Alonso can continue to mash against the Phillies this series as he has done all year, then that will at least help to make up for what was a tough start to the week for the Mets. But, there’s no doubt that Alonso is the straw that really stirs the drink for this Mets team.