Mets sweep A's after Pete Alonso's MLB-best eighth HR ties it in ninth
The Mets' Pete Alonso reacts after hitting a home run during the ninth inning of a game against the Athletics in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday. Credit: AP/Jeff Chiu
OAKLAND, Calif. — Despite getting outhit by the Athletics, navigating nine innings with the bottom four pitchers on their roster and blowing a late lead, the Mets stole a win anyway, 4-3, after scoring the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the top of the 10th inning on Sunday.
Oakland reliever Zach Jackson faced four batters and walked three of them. When Francisco Lindor drew ball four, the pitch skipped away from catcher Shea Langeliers, allowing Eduardo Escobar — who opened the extra inning as the automatic runner on second base — to scoot home.
David Robertson escaped a second-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the 10th, nailing down a fourth win in a row for the Mets (10-6).
“You always like when you end up on the good side of it,” manager Buck Showalter said. “There’s so many things you could point to . . . ”
Among the pivotal moments on that list: Tommy Pham and Francisco Lindor homered off JP Sears (six innings, two runs). Pete Alonso’s majors-leading eighth homer tied the score with one out in the top of the ninth. Jimmy Yacabonis, making his Mets debut in the bottom of the ninth, put his first two batters on but retired the next three. Brandon Nimmo provided the middle out in that sequence with a diving catch — his second of the game — in left-centerfield to rob Jace Peterson of a hit. Had the ball dropped, the A’s (3-13) likely would have won.
Yacabonis called the play “unreal.” Alonso said it was “huge.”
“Oh my gosh,” Showalter said. “I didn’t think he had any chance.”
Nimmo said: “I knew I was going to have a shot at it, but it was sinking away from me. At the end, I just figured my only shot was laying out for it. Fortunately, I took a chance and came up with it.”
Robertson was the only one of the Mets’ usual four high-leverage relievers they were comfortable pitching. Drew Smith (four outs Saturday) and Adam Ottavino (28 pitches Saturday) were unavailable and Showalter preferred not to use Brooks Raley.
The late drama erased the ugly developments: John Curtiss, entrusted with a one-run lead in the eighth, allowed Langeliers’ two-run double. Escobar blew a bases-loaded, one-out scoring opportunity in the ninth by grounding into a double play.
Righthander Jose Butto allowed one run in five innings (plus one batter), scattering five hits and four walks and striking out two. He made a spot start in place of Max Scherzer, whom the Mets pushed back to Wednesday because of back soreness.
“We could’ve just chalked it up and been like, oh well, series win and we’ll go get them in L.A.,” Nimmo said. “But the guys fought back.”
Francisco Alvarez went 0-for-4 but took significantly better swings, hitting three balls 95 mph or harder, while playing for a second day in a row. Showalter said he thought it was important to start Alvarez in a second consecutive game because “he’s used to playing every day,” but the manager said he would “not necessarily” do that more often moving forward.
What did Showalter think of Alvarez’s recent offensive performance?
“Every at-bat, it’s the seventh game of the World Series,” he said. “But I love the fact that he doesn’t take it behind the plate.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
