Mets top Orioles on Francisco Alvarez's no-doubt walk-off home run
After hitting a no-doubt walk-off home run to left-centerfield in the ninth inning to give the Mets a 4-3 victory over the Orioles on Monday night, Francisco Alvarez hopped down the third-base line, flung his helmet into the air and leaped onto home plate, where his thrilled teammates were waiting to greet him.
After the celebration, with his jersey partially torn, Alvarez returned to home plate to touch it again.
Just in case he had missed it the first time.
Alvarez’s 421-foot moonshot on a 3-and-0 pitch went deep into the Flushing night and ended what could have been another frustrating game for the Mets, who let a late lead get away for the second straight day.
But this time, against a much tougher opponent, the Mets prevailed before 26,874 at Citi Field.
“Alvy, he lives for those moments and he’s a really special player,” Brandon Nimmo said. “Huge for the team. Huge for Alvy.”
With one out, Alvarez had taken three balls from Seranthony Dominguez before unloading on a 98-mph fastball for his first career walk-off home run (and first walk-off hit of any kind).
It was Alvarez’s sixth home run and first since July 26 in what has been a disappointing season. Alvarez hit 25 home runs last season in his breakout rookie year.
“It’s been hard for him,” manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Twenty-two years old and struggling at the big-league level. I’ve been saying it: He cares so much and he wants to win. At times when we’re struggling offensively as a team, he feels like he’s responsible.”
The Mets were struggling offensively as a team when Alvarez took his mighty cut and sent everyone home.
Before the homer, the Mets had not gotten a hit since Tyrone Taylor’s two-out RBI single in the fourth gave them a 3-0 lead. They struck out 11 times in the fifth through ninth innings and 14 times overall.
But the Mets still moved within 1½ games of idle Atlanta for the final NL wild-card spot because Mendoza told Alvarez to let it fly on 3-and-0.
“I really appreciate Carlos because he gives me the green light,” Alvarez said. “I was thinking swing the [bat] and hit it on the barrel.”
And about going back to touch the plate?
“I don’t know if I missed it,” he said. “But I came back to touch it.”
Things were going along swimmingly for David Peterson with a 3-1 lead after six.
But Ryan Mountcastle led off the seventh with a double, moved to third on a grounder and, after a strikeout, scored when Peterson was called for a two-out balk by plate umpire John Tumpane.
Peterson was flagged for not coming to a stop in the set position before throwing the first pitch to Ramon Urias. Peterson said he was concerned that the pitch clock was approaching zero, so he rushed. All he had to do was step off the rubber.
“That’s my fault,” Peterson said. “I should have stepped off.”
The next pitch to Urias was crushed 432 feet to left-center for a tying home run.
On Sunday, the Mets led 2-1 entering the seventh but lost to Miami, 3-2, as Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett each allowed a run. That dropped the Mets to 3-3 on the homestand against Oakland and Miami, hardly the cream of the MLB crop.
On Monday, the Mets stepped up in weight class against Baltimore, which fell a half-game behind the idle Yankees atop the AL East.
After this series, the Mets will travel to San Diego and Arizona to play the two leading clubs in the NL wild-card chase.
“We know where we are on the schedule, how important every game is and who we’re playing,” Mendoza said. “But at the end of the day, our job is to get a win, and we’ll treat it that way.”
The Mets took a 2-0 lead against Trevor Rogers on J.D. Martinez’s 13th homer, a two-run shot to right-center in the first. They made it 3-0 in the fourth on Taylor’s RBI single.
The Orioles dinged Peterson with an unearned run in the fifth (unearned because of Peterson’s own throwing error).
Urias doubled with one out and moved to third when Peterson threw wildly to second on a pickoff attempt. Jackson Holliday’s RBI grounder to first made it 3-1.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
