Mets, Pete Alonso knew it was only a matter of time until slugger broke out of slump
It felt like a long time coming, but it finally did for Pete Alonso and the Mets.
Entering Tuesday’s 7-5 win over the Cardinals, Alonso was in a slump. He was 1-for-his-last-30 and really forced Mets manager Carlos Mendoza to sit him for the first time this season.
And it looks like it worked.
In Tuesday’s win, Alonso was a big part of it. He drove in the go-ahead runs with a two-run double and gave the Mets an insurance run with his long ball in the ninth inning, his first since April 27.
“It was nice to have a positive impact on the game,” Alonso said. “It’s nice to be able to help in the manner I did tonight. I just want to continue to have good, quality at-bats and keep hitting the ball in the big part of the field.”
“It’s always good to see results,” Mendoza said. “At some point, he’s going to come out of it. He’s too good of a hitter, too good of a player for this to keep going.”
Alonso’s production came at just the right time for the Mets. After Brandon Nimmo launched a three-run shot to tie the game at 3-3 in the fifth inning, Alonso came up against Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas.
Mikolas struck out Alonso swinging in his first at-bat, but in this AB, Alonso would go with the pitch and drive a 91 mph sinker out of the zone to right-center field, allowing for Starling Marte and Francisco Lindor to score.
“Credit to him, coaches, obviously. He continued to work,” Mendoza said of Alonso. “When it’s hard, he always wants to be there and it’s great to have a really good game for us today.”
The home run AB occurred when Alonso went down and hit an 85 mph slider down in the zone. However, he didn’t go with the pitch and instead pulled it using his power to launch the ball 411 feet over the left-center field wall.
So, did Alonso do anything different to help get out of his slump?
“Not real changes but trying different feels,” Alonso explained. “Trying to get back to hitting the ball hard in the big part of the field. It’s just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”
Mendoza praised Alonso’s work ethic and his ability to be himself even when he’s struggling because the team and Alonso knew it was only a matter of time before he broke out again.
“That’s what makes him such a special player, a special human and what it means to this team and those guys in the locker room. He wants us to win,” Mendoza said. “He’s 0-fer but we’re shaking hands in the end of the game, and that’s what matters to him.
“He shows up the next day with a smile on his face, grinding, working on his craft and for him to have a game like that is good.”
The Mets and Alonso hope Tuesday is a sign of things to come as New York looks for the three-game sweep of the Cardinals on Wednesday afternoon.
