The New York baseball club now boasts a new long ball leader.
Pete Alonso launched a two-run shot off Atlanta’s Spencer Strider on Tuesday, improving New York’s advantage to 5-1 in the latter portion of the third.
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The big fly marked the 253rd of Alonso’s tenure, surpassing a stalemate with celebrated player Darryl Strawberry for the most in Mets history. Alonso established the new benchmark before a grateful Citi Field gathering that honored the milestone with an ovation.
The long ball contributed to a 13-5 Mets triumph. And Alonso wasn’t finished.
He crushed another in the sixth.
The independent shot off reliever Austin Cox further expanded New York’s edge, this time to 11-5. It also lengthened Alonso’s new Mets club standard to 254 big flies.
His second dinger of the contest once more caused a sensation at Citi Field.
Strawberry accumulated a total of 335 dingers in a career that also featured stints with the Dodgers, Giants and Yankees. His 252 blasts with the Mets beforehand represented the franchise benchmark.
Alonso, 30, recommitted with the Mets on a two-year, $54 million pact in the offseason and will expectedly have ample chances to increase his now-franchise-best dinger count.
Alonso topped the NL with 53 dingers in his opening campaign in 2019. In the years since that time, he has persisted as one of baseball’s best power hitters, with 34-plus dingers in each campaign that wasn’t shortened by COVID-19.
Tuesday’s dingers were Alonso’s 27th and 28th of the campaign in his 118th game, positioning him well to go over 30 dingers again, with 43 contests remaining on New York’s schedule. The Mets will require all they can acquire from Alonso as they vie for a spot in the playoffs.
Tuesday’s triumph ceased a seven-game losing string and a stretch of 11 losses in 12 contests. They moved up to 64-55 with the triumph, five contests behind the first-place Phillies in the NL East. They also maintained pace in the wild-card hunt and held a two-game advantage over the Cincinnati Reds for the last playoff location in the National League.
