Alonso breaks 100, Phillies prove Keith right as the Mets get rebound they need
Pete Alonso surpasses 100 RBI on the season. Plus, how the Mets got the rebound they needed at a pivotal time.
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets kicked off their four-game set with the Phillies in comfortable fashion, winning by a score of 7-2 (box)
1B Pete Alonso clubbed his 30th home run of the season and drove home three runs on the night to reach 102 RBI
Alonso now has six home runs and 22 RBI against the Phillies this season, joining Eric Davis (1987) as the only player to ever put up those numbers vs Philadelphia in a single season (Casella)
RHP Chris Bassitt bulldogged his way through another one, allowing just two earned runs with no walks over six innings pitched
Rookie 3B Brett Baty delivered with a clutch two-out, two-run single to put the game away in the top of the 7th
RF Starling Marte stole home on the backend of a double-steal started by SS Francisco Lindor
With the win, the Mets are now 12-4 vs the Phillies this season
RHP and No. 15 prospect Jose Butto could be an option to start for the club on Sunday if Taijuan Walker is unable to pitch
New York remains 3.5 games ahead of the Braves, who won once again, in the National League East. They are now 37-24 on the road, 13-6 in August, 16-4 in series openers on the road, 61-11 when scoring first, 68-0 when leading after eight innings, 41-18 against the National League East, 57-5 when scoring five or more runs, and 12-4 against Philadelphia in 2022.
Roster Moves 📰
2B Yolmer Sánchez to activated to the major league roster
3B Devin Marrero designated for assignment
OF Nick Plummer outrighted to Triple-A Syracuse
Injury Updates 🏥
RHP Tommy Hunter (lower back tightness) is expected to return to the big league club on Sunday
Who’s Hot 🔥
Pete Alonso became the fastest player in Mets history to reach 100 RBI (120 games), surpassing Carlos Beltrán (2006), Mike Piazza (2000) and Robin Ventura (1999) who all accomplished the feat in 122 games
Chris Bassitt now has a 0.69 ERA with 21 strikeouts and just four walks in four starts this month
Brett Baty is batting .300/.364/.600 with a home run and four RBI in his first three career starts
Playoff Odds Tracker 🎲
The Mets are 77-43 and lead the Braves by 3.5 games in the National League East with 42 games to go. They are on-pace for 104 wins, which would be the second-highest mark in franchise history (108 in 1986)
The Mets have the third-easiest schedule down the stretch of the season (.463 opposing winning percentage, per Tankathon)
Playoff odds (FanGraphs):
Make the playoffs: 100 percent ↔️
Win the National League East: 84 percent ⬆️
Clinch a first round bye: 83.9 percent ⬆️
Win the World Series: 17.6 percent ⬆️
Today’s Games 🗓
Match-up: Mets (77-43) at Phillies (65-53)
Where: Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia, PA
GAME ONE
Starters: RHP Trevor Williams (2-5, 3.02 ERA) vs RHP Zack Wheeler (11-6, 2.92 ERA)
When: 1:05 PM EST
Where to Watch: SNY
GAME TWO
Starters: LHP David Peterson (6-2, 3.30 ERA) vs LHP Bailey Falter (0-3, 4.85 ERA)
When: 7:15 PM EST
Where to Watch: FOX
For the first time in a month, the Mets needed a rebound – and they delivered 📝
If you counted on one hand how many times the Mets truly needed a rebound this season, you’d probably have fingers left over.
For the vast majority of this season, this team has been a machine and it’s been a total rarity for them to ever really hit the skids. That’s what made this past week’s series against the Braves so surprising — it was the first time all year that the Mets had ever really let you down.
In pretty much every big series to date, the Mets had always stepped up their play and delivered every time. But not here. New York dealt with some extremely poorly timed injuries in back-to-back games to kick-off the series, fought off multiple rain delays and experienced an offensive brown-out for three of the four games in Atlanta. And it was all capped off with a soft ground ball hit up the middle scoring a runner from first to win the series for the Braves — a truly Turner Field esque week in the ATL.
That’s what put the Mets in a unique spot on Friday night: they had to rebound for the first time in over a month. The last time this team was facing trouble in terms of their play was right after the All-Star break, where they’d lost three straight games and saw their once double-digit lead in the NL East vaporize down to just a half-game. After that, they played their best baseball of the year for several weeks.
In need of a rebound similar to that once again, the Mets delivered right from the get-go.
Pete Alonso drove home his 100th run in the first inning to kick things off, and quickly followed it up with his 101st and 102nd soon after. The Mets offense as a whole had a much better night than they’d mostly been experiencing lately, with RBIs from Jeff McNeil and Brett Baty, along with a steal of home by Starling Marte to fill out the score card.
Overall the Mets played their most crisp game in over a week as things were mostly clicking at the plate, on the base paths, on the mound and in the field, while the Phillies poor fundies reared their ugly head at times, just as Keith Hernandez recently spoke to.
Chris Bassitt also did what he does best and that’s grind through a game, bending but not breaking over six quality innings.
Overall the Mets got this series off to the exact start that they needed to with a double header looming on Saturday, uncertainty over Taijuan Walker’s status on Sunday and more difficult games ahead vs the Yankees and Dodgers. For one night, it was the rebound this team needed. Now they’ll just have to get back out there and keep it going.
Down on the Farm 🌾
Khalil Lee (OF, No. 24 Prospect, Triple-A): 1-for-3, HR (10), BB, 2 runs scored
JT Riddle (SS, Triple-A): 3-for-5, HR (7), 2B, 3 RBI, 2 runs scored
Omar De Los Santos (LF, Low-A): 1-for-3, HR (14), 2 RBI, BB
Box Scores: Triple-A | Double-A | Single-A | Low-A
Around the League 🚩
The Braves won again, out-clubbing the Astros 6-2 – Houston DH Yordan Alvarez exited the game with an illness
The Yankees lost again, as they were dropped by the Blue Jays for their 14th loss in their last 16 games
Padres LHP Blake Snell was able to make his start despite being involved in a traffic accident on Friday
The red-hot Orioles outlasted the Red Sox in a wild 15-10 affair