Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The New York Mets enter the All-Star break with mixed feelings, as they swept the Arizona Diamondbacks to open the week and carried a six-game winning streak through the start of their series with the San Diego Padres before ultimately dropping the final two games of the three-game set. During that stretch, the offense leaned heavily on Francisco Álvarez’s power stroke, while newly minted All-Star Kodai Senga turned in one of the best performances of any Mets starter this year.
Hitter Of The Week
After a June full of struggles, Francisco Álvarez has come out firing on all cylinders in July while consistently coming through in the clutch.
Álvarez’s week started off in Arizona on Tuesday with a monster 467-foot blast off former Met Miguel Castro in the seventh inning that gave New York the lead for good. He followed that up with a two-hit performance on Wednesday that included one of the most impressive moments and overall at-bats in his career thus far. In a full count down one run with two outs in the ninth inning, Álvarez took Andrew Chafin deep to tie the game and went on to score the winning run one batter later. He capped off the series against the D-backs with another two-hit game that included a two-run homer off Ryne Nelson.
Álvarez didn’t slow down against the Padres, as he opened the series on Friday with the first four-hit game of his career. He then drove in the only run of the game for the Mets on Saturday with a solo shot before going hitless on Sunday.
In total, Álvarez slashed .435/.480/.957 with four homers and 8 RBI on the week.
Pitcher Of The Week
Who would’ve thought that Kodai Senga, in his first MLB season, would be the Mets’ best starter in a rotation that features two future Hall of Famers?
It hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Senga this year, as was to be expected. However, he has steadily improved and found ways to be effective all while showing off his outrageous talent and stuff on a start-to-start basis.
Senga has a couple of magnificent outings to his name already, but perhaps none top the gem he twirled against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. In a pitcher’s duel against Tommy Henry, Senga threw a career-high eight innings while also tying his career-high in strikeouts with 12 while walking just one batter and allowing four hits. His only mistake of the day was allowing a solo homer to Christian Walker that broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning. It appeared as though he would take a complete game loss despite his mastery on the mound, but the late comeback earned Senga and the Mets a pivotal 2-1 victory.
