Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Last week, the New York Mets entered one of their more difficult stretches of the season: four games against the always-pesky Cardinals and three-games in the cold, thin air of Denver, notoriously one of the toughest places for any visiting team to pick up a win.

But like the Mets have been doing all season, the team continued to win, winning three of four against the Cards and defeating the Rockies twice, including a shutout at Coors Field on Sunday afternoon. The series against St. Louis was highlighted by Pete Alonso‘s extra-inning walk off home run on Thursday afternoon, while Taijuan Walker pitched an absolute gem in Sunday’s 2-0 Mets victory, earning his second win of the season before a happy flight to San Francisco.

Hitter of the Week

The Polar Bear picked up two more home runs last week in consecutive games against the Cardinals, pushing his season total to ten long balls. On the week, Alonso batted .321/.387/.571 with three runs scored, eight RBIs, and two walks. While Alonso displayed his consistent hitting ability by picking up four multi-hit games – with two such games apiece against the Cardinals and Rockies – his true power was shown with multiple epic blasts in two of those wins against the red birds.

On Wednesday evening, Alonso’s three-run homer in the eighth inning put the game out of reach, extending the Mets lead to 11-4. Then the next afternoon, Alonso crushed a massive 447-foot shot into the second-deck, giving the Mets a dramatic 7-6 walk off victory before they headed west to Colorado.

Pitcher of the Week

Taijuan Walker put together two quality starts this week, but it was his Sunday start in Denver that really put Walker’s name on the “Player of the Week” radar. Walker began his week by allowing three runs on seven hits and two walks across five strong innings against St. Louis, striking out four batters as well. His four-seam fastball, splitter, curveball, and sinker each registered an effective mark of at least a 20% called strike + whiff percentage.

Playing in *the* hitter’s park of all hitter’s park, Walker made a mockery of the mile-high altitude. Over seven dominant shutout innings, Walker allowed five hits and two walks, while striking out six Colorado batters. He primarily threw his four-seam fastball, splitter, and curveball, with each of those pitches being thrown at least 15 times and each leading to at least a 27% called strike + whiff percentage. Walker was deceiving the Rockies at the plate all game, and the 18.6 mile per hour difference between his fastball average and his curveball average kept hitters guessing all game.