Pete Alonso, Kodai Senga help Mets take series from Dodgers
Pete Alonso of the Mets runs the bases after his first-inning two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Citi Field on Sunday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
The Mets’ three-game series with the Dodgers may have started miserably with that 13-inning marathon loss on Friday night, but it ultimately turned out pretty well for them.
Stars performed. Long droughts ended. And on Sunday night, behind strong performances by Pete Alonso and Kodai Senga — plus a sparkling defensive play by centerfielder Tyrone Taylor — the Mets earned a 3-1 victory before 41,917 at Citi Field in the rubber game.
The Mets took the series and possibly set the stage for an extended run of success. They have six more games left in this homestand, with the next three against the White Sox (17-36), who have the worst record in the American League, and then three with the Rockies (9-44), who have the worst record in baseball.
Alonso ended the longest stretch of his career without a home run — 65 at-bats over 16 games — with a two-run shot to rightfield in the first inning and Senga continued to squelch offenses with 5 1⁄3 strong innings of one-run pitching.
Senga gave up a leadoff home run by Shohei Ohtani on his second pitch of the game, a 411-foot shot that landed in the rightfield upper deck. It was the first home run he has allowed since his first game of the season, but Taylor helped him avoid more trouble with his defense and Alonso turned the opening sour note sweet with his home run in the bottom of the inning.
Alonso turned on a first-pitch knuckle curve from Landon Knack for his 10th home run of the season to put the Mets ahead for good.
It was his first home run since he hit one against the Diamondbacks on May 5 in Arizona. The breakout homer came the day after Juan Soto ended an 11-game drought without an extra-base hit with a two-run double that was the difference in Saturday’s 5-2 win.
“I knew it was a while, but ultimately it is what it is,” Alonso said. “I feel like sometimes that happens, and for me, [I’m] just really happy I was able to come through right there.”
“It’s rare for Pete to go through a stretch like that without a homer, but . . . he got a breaking ball and was ready to go,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Hopefully they come in bunches now.”
After Senga allowed Ohtani’s 18th homer — which tied him with Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber for the MLB lead — Mookie Betts reached on an error and Freddie Freeman doubled to put two runners in scoring position with none out.
Taylor raced in for a dying fly to right-center by Will Smith and on a dead run fired to catcher Luis Torrens to cut down Betts trying to score.
“Amazing,” Senga said.
“They had a lot of momentum there for a second and that kind of stopped it,” Taylor said. “That was my favorite part of it.”
Senga allowed one run, five hits and four walks and recorded five strikeouts. Despite traffic and not having his best forkball, he kept sidestepping trouble. Los Angeles (32-21) was 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position against him and hit into a pair of double plays, leaving six on base while he was in.
Senga (5-3, 1.46) kept up his strong run of performances a night after David Peterson continued his with 7 2⁄3 innings of two-run pitching in Saturday night’s win.
After Alonso put the Mets up 2-1, Senga was stopped en route to the mound by umpires in what looked like a routine check. They made him change his gray glove for a darker one.
The Mets (32-21) added an insurance run in the third on a run-scoring forceout by Soto.
Ryne Stanek finished the sixth by getting an inning-ending double play, Max Kranick set down the side in order in the seventh and eighth and Reed Garrett finished things with a scoreless ninth.
Asked about the importance of winning this rematch of the 2024 NLCS, Mendoza replied: “Yeah, and especially with the way we started this series [with the] tough, tough loss Friday.
“Taking the last two, winning a series against a really good team, [it] shows a lot about that group, our ability to bounce back, the grit, the resilience.”
Roger Rubin returned to Newsday in 2018 to write about high schools, colleges and baseball following 20 years at the Daily News. A Baseball Hall of Fame voter since 2011, he has covered 13 MLB postseasons and 14 NCAA Final Fours.
