Pete Alonso crushes two homers, Griffin Canning twirls six strong innings in Mets' 6-1 win over Dodgers
The Mets locked up the season series with a 6-1 win over the Dodgers on Wednesday night in Los Angeles.
Here are some takeaways...
- As was the case in the first two games of this series, the Mets were able to jump out to a first inning advantage. After LA booted a potential double play ball, the first run of the game came in on an RBI groundout, then Pete Alonso crushed an opposite-field two-run shot to make it 3-0.
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The Mets' offense generated plenty of traffic against Tony Gonsolin and the Dodgers bullpen over the next few innings, but they weren't able to come up with the big hit needed until Alonso struck again in the eighth -- crushing a monstrous 447-foot three-run homer to deep right field.
The big man is now tied with Seiya Suzuki for the NL lead with 53 RBI on the season. He's also tied with Darryl Strawberry for the most multi-homer games in franchise history (22) and is just two long balls behind David Wright for the second-most in franchise history (241).
- On the mound, Griffin Canning delivered a much-needed bounce back outing. The right-hander was magnificent as he limited the high-powered Dodgers lineup to just three hits and a walk while striking out seven across six scoreless innings of work.
Canning's best frame of the night was the bottom of the fifth inning, when he worked around a one out Dalton Rushing single by punching out both Kiké Hernández and Shohei Ohtani -- the latter of which was on a nasty painted 3-2 changeup.
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After his best showing of the season, the California-native is now down to an impressive 2.90 ERA.
- José Castillo had to work around a bit of a scare before the Mets tacked on their insurance in the eighth. The left-hander allowed a single and a hit-by-pitch, but bounced back to strike out the next two batters with the tying run at the plate and the top of the order looming.
Castillo returned for a easy bottom of the eighth, giving him 6.0 scoreless innings since joining the Mets.
- Los Angeles was able to break up the shutout with a solo shot off the bat of Andy Pages in the bottom of the ninth. It was the first home run Ryne Stanek allowed this season -- but it was no harm no foul, as he quickly put the finishing touches on this one to secure the win and clinch the season series.
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- Juan Soto saw his five-game hitting and extra-base streak come to an end, but the star outfielder continues showing signs that's he's rounding back into form -- breaking out the Soto Shuffle at times as he drew three walks across four plate appearances.
- Brandon Nimmo enjoyed another strong showing back in the two-spot against the righty -- picking up another hit and scoring two runs. He's now reached base in eight of his last nine appearances and has scored six runs over that span.
- Jeff McNeil pushed his hitting streak to six with a one out single in the second.
- Ronny Mauricio is still looking for his first big-league knock this season. The 24-year-old was back in the lineup batting seventh and playing third base, but he was held hitless and struck out twice across four at-bats.
Game MVP: Pete Alonso
The big man came into the night with a ton of success in his career at Dodger Stadium, and he led the way -- driving in five of the teams six runs.
Highlights
What's next
The Mets will look to secure the series win in the finale on Thursday afternoon at 4:10 p.m.
David Peterson (4-2, 2.69 ERA) takes the mound looking for his third consecutive victory against RHP Landon Knack (3-2, 4.58 ERA).
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