Pete Alonso’s 9th-inning homer helps save Mets from 0-6 start as they split doubleheader vs. Tigers
NEW YORK — Leave it to the Polar Bear to lift the Mets’ ice-cold offense.
A game-tying, ninth-inning home run by Pete Alonso helped the Mets salvage what, to that point, had been a dismal doubleheader, setting up a walk-off win against the Detroit Tigers in Thursday’s second game at Citi Field.
Alonso’s clutch solo shot against Detroit’s Alex Faedo tied the game, 1-1. Three batters later, Tyrone Taylor lined a walk-off single off Faedo to clinch a 2-1 victory — and give the Mets their first win of the season.
The Mets were no-hit for the first seven innings until Harrison Bader’s soft single led off the eighth.
The Mets (1-5) split Thursday’s doubleheader after dropping the first game, 6-3, in excruciating fashion. After jumping out to a 3-0 lead, everything unraveled.
Mets starter Adrian Houser, in his team debut, began with five scoreless innings but left with runners on the corners and no outs in the sixth. Detroit scored its first run on an Andy Ibanez sacrifice fly against reliever Brooks Raley in that inning, then added another in the seventh on a wild pitch by Jake Diekman.
Detroit tied the game on a Riley Greene home run against Adam Ottavino in the eighth inning, then rallied for three runs in the 11th, eliciting boos from a sparse crowd on a chilly Queens day.
Colt Keith’s RBI double and Gio Urshela’s two-run single in the 11th came against reliever Michael Tonkin, who previously surrendered five unearned runs in the 10th inning of Monday’s 5-0 loss to Detroit.
The 0-5 start marked the Mets’ worst since 2005 and third worst in franchise history.
