Pete Alonso's power making up for Mets' outages elsewhere: 3 takeaways

New York Times

03-04-2025

MIAMI — In their most dramatic game through the first week of the season, the New York Mets pulled out a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Miami Marlins in 11 innings Wednesday for their first series victory.
'Crazy game,' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said.
After finishing the road trip at 3-3, the Mets host the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday for their home opener at Citi Field.
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Here are three takeaways from the series against the Marlins.
In the 11th inning Wednesday, after fouling off a few tough pitches during an eight-pitch at-bat, Alonso worked a walk. But he remained at home plate for a couple of seconds. It was as if he didn't want to go.
As he stood there, the Mets players on the top step of the dugout yelled out to him: 'Ball four! Ball four!'
'I had to jump out of the dugout,' Mendoza said with a smile. 'That tells you he wants to hit and he's locked in.'
Alonso later said he was just trying to avoid getting a called third strike against him, but could you blame him if he was simply just that into wanting a chance to hit?
After hitting a grand slam Monday, Alonso went 3-for-4 on Wednesday with two doubles and a three-run home run. He had four of the five hardest-hit balls of the game with exit velocity readings of 114.5 mph, 113.4, 113.1 and 107.1.
THE POLAR BEAR DELIVERS 🐻‍❄️ pic.twitter.com/0bWjM56qYt
— New York Mets (@Mets) April 2, 2025
In the Mets' six games, Alonso did what he entered the season wanting to do: limit chase and consistently take good swings on any pitches over the plate. His raw power takes it from there.
'The whole road trip, we've seen some really good at-bats,' Mendoza said.
If Alonso didn't come through in the eighth inning with the home run, the Mets may not have pulled off a win. His home run tied the score at 4. To that point, things had not looked good.
The Mets did not play crisp defense this series.
Some of the miscues seem like anomalies. For instance, Francisco Lindor made two errors Tuesday — chances are slim of that morphing into a recurring problem. On Wednesday, center fielder Tyrone Taylor misread a ball that ended up as a double because, he said, he just went to the wrong spot — he's a steady defender and hardly ever takes poor routes.
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However, other poor plays loomed as more concerning. Instead of attempting a double play with runners on first and third base and one out in the third inning, Mark Vientos made a wild throw to home plate for an error. Vientos also fielded a ball that may have gone foul but instead ended up as an infield hit.
It wasn't just the defense Alonso helped conceal.
Aside from Alonso, the Mets failed to do much offensively with runners in scoring position. For the series against the Marlins, they went 5-for-27. Alonso had two of the hits.
It's a tiny snapshot. The Mets lineup — you know, the one with Juan Soto, Brandon Nimmo, Lindor and Alonso — should be fine in the big picture. But over the six-game road, Lindor (.100 batting average), Vientos (.083) and Brett Baty (.071) all failed to get on base much or supply much power. The close-up view from here just wasn't always pretty. On the other hand, winning games on the strength of Alonso, Soto and Nimmo demonstrates the depth of the lineup; chances are, a couple of their best hitters are going to be rolling right, and some days that may be enough.
Toward the end of spring training, a longtime National League scout said of Luis Torrens, 'He's one of the best backups in the game.'
With Francisco Alvarez (hamate fracture) sidelined, Torrens has made quite an impact.
Wednesday was the first game Torrens didn't start. Didn't matter. He managed to produce in a big way after replacing Hayden Senger as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth with a runner on third base, Griffin Conine hit a grounder to second baseman Baty, who threw home. Baty's throw sailed to the right of home plate, in the opposite direction of the sliding runner. Torrens nonetheless snagged the ball and slapped the tag just in time.
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'It's really tough because you can't see the runner with the ball coming from the right side,' Mets catching coach Glenn Sherlock said.
Added Mendoza: 'Unbelievable play there.'
Then, there was another one. Conine took off early for second base, taking advantage of Edwin Diaz's inability to control the running game. Torrens caught Conine anyway — with a perfect throw from his knees.
Torrens, who is hitting .313, also went 1-for-2 in the game.
The depth of the Mets bullpen may depend on just how good Reed Garrett, Huascar Brazoban and Max Kranick really are.
In Houston, the Mets didn't intend to put Garrett and Kranick in pressure-packed situations to start the season. It's just how it unfolded. They both came through for the Mets in big spots. They then continued to look good in Miami.
Though Kranick didn't rack up swings-and-misses, he pitched three scoreless innings Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, Garrett provided 1 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Clay Holmes, who failed to get through the fifth inning (a long third inning in which the Mets failed to make plays contributed to the short outing). Kranick and Garrett have each made two appearances.
Brazoban, meanwhile, has already appeared in three games, looking sharp in each outing. Perhaps his best performance happened Wednesday, when he recorded his first career save. In relief of Danny Young, Brazoban recorded the final two outs, stranding runners on first and third base by attacking the strike zone.
'Huge,' Mendoza said.
The back end of the Mets bullpen features Diaz, A.J. Minter, Ryne Stanek and Jose Butto. Dedniel Núñez is working his way to full strength in Triple A. The Mets pretty much know what they're getting from that group. Garrett was strong in the first month-plus of last year but then faded. Kranick and Brazoban were the last relievers to make the roster (both pitchers had stellar springs). If Garrett, Kranick and Brazoban emerge as reliable contributors or become anywhere close to how good they've looked early, then the Mets boast some depth.
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The ability for each of those three relievers to go multiple innings also helps the Mets, considering the state of their rotation. Frankie Montas (strained right lat) has started throwing, but Sean Manaea (oblique) had a setback in his rehab and won't throw for two weeks.