Pete Alonso, Francisco Alvarez, and Luisangel Acuna all homer in Mets' rout of Nationals
Mark Vientos, Eddy Alvarez, Harrison Bader, Pete Alonso and Luisangel Acuna of the Mets celebrate after defeating the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on Tuesday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Monday evening, when the Mets staged their first rally of the week, an old friend appeared on the scoreboard. It was the clip they used to play at Shea Stadium — a rain-drenched Peter Finch imploring everyone to get up out of their chairs and stick their heads out the window and scream.
It was a piece of nostalgia that was reintroduced this season, and Tuesday, during their 10-1 win over the Nationals, there was another. Tyrone Taylor doubled in Pete Alonso during the fifth inning and the scoreboard blared “Who Let The Dogs Out” — the anthem of the 2000 World Series (losing) team.
There was, too, that eternal piece of Mets lore. It’s September, and all eyes were on the out-of-town scoreboard checking on — who else? — Atlanta. In fact, when the Reds came from behind to beat them, the crowd let out a lusty roar; for good measure, they showed it on the scoreboard, with Grimace superimposed on the losing score. The Mets are now two games ahead of Atlanta for the third and final wild-card spot, and tied with Arizona for the second spot, with 11 games to play.
“I’m just really fired up because of the situation we put ourselves in — not a lot of people would necessarily see us in this position,” said Alonso, who went 3-for-5 with a three-run homer, two runs and five RBIs. “It’s super exciting, but we control our own destiny.”
Destiny felt like a good word for it, especially as Luisangel Acuna — called up to sub in for Francisco Lindor — acted like he’d been ushering teams into the playoffs for ages. He started at shortstop, went 3-for-4 with his first MLB home run, a double and three runs. After, his brother (You may have heard of him? Ronald?) texted him and reminded him to bring his jersey when the Mets play a pivotal series in Atlanta next week. He wants to swap.
“That confidence comes from my brother,” Acuna said. “A lot of the conversations that I have with my brother — sometimes, I’ll ask him, ‘Hey, what’s that like in the big leagues?’ . . . But it also comes from practice and through all the work that we put in.”
All the while, the Mets, who are in a playoff push that seemed all but impossible in June, appeared to be replicating the rollicking success of those 1999 and 2000 teams. Tuesday, it meant a little bit of something from a little bit of everyone — especially as they continued to play without their ace in Kodai Senga, their MVP in Lindor, and do-it-all Jeff McNeil.
In addition to Alonso and Acuna, they relied on Tylor Megill, who’s been excellent since getting recalled from Triple-A at the beginning of the month; he didn’t allow an earned run over six innings, with two walks and four strikeouts. Jose Iglesias went 3-for-4 with two runs to extend his hitting streak to 11 games as he continues to transition to an every-day player.
They totaled 14 hits against five pitchers, with a four-run third and a three-run sixth.
Even their mistakes seemed to pay good dividends.
The Nationals scored a run in the third on a fielding miscue from Acuna, in his first major-league start at shortstop. Megill walked No. 9 hitter Jacob Young on five pitches and CJ Abrams hit a grounder to third that should have been an easy forceout. Mark Vientos’ throw, though, was a little low, and Acuna couldn’t handle it, putting runners at the corners with no outs. Young scored on James Wood’s forceout at second.
Acuna, though, rebounded immediately, driving in Harrison Bader with a double in the bottom of the inning to tie the score at 1 and give him his first major-league RBI.
“He’s calm, poised, he belongs in the big leagues,” Carlos Mendoza said. “I think when players struggle in the minor leagues, you find out a lot about [them] . . . Today was a perfect example. You know, we don’t make the play there [and he gets the error] and he’s got the next-pitch mentality, the next at-bat, the next play.”
Megill limited the damage, though. He got Jose Tena to foul out for the second out and, after his second walk of the inning, struck out Luis Garcia Jr. swinging.
Acuna’s double led to more: With runners on the corners, Alonso looped a two-run bloop single over first baseman Joey Gallo’s head to give the Mets the 3-1 lead. Vientos’ sacrifice fly tacked on another run.
Alvarez, who came into the day hitting .189 over his last 13 games, made it 5-1 in the fourth, when he hit a screaming liner 397 feet to left for his ninth homer. Taylor added his RBI double in the fifth and Alonso hit his three-run homer in the sixth. Acuna added his solo shot in the eighth.
“This place is really special . . . and I’m really fired up,” said Alonso, in a contract year. “I’m going to give it hell.”
Laura Albanese is a reporter, feature writer and columnist covering local professional sports teams; she began at Newsday in 2007 as an intern.
