– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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NEW YORK — The “PETE! A!-LON!-SO!” chants rang out in the stands even before the New York Mets first baseman took his first swing in the fourth inning, almost as if the spectators’ wishes were acting more like a seance to lift New York from an early deficit. Alonso responded in kind, as well all of the other eight hitters in that frame, and for the entirety of the rest of the night, to lift the Mets to a convincing win.
Alonso’s homer to begin the fourth began a six-run rally in the frame as the Mets cruised to a 15-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins in the first of a three-game series on Monday night. All 11 Mets who made a plate appearance in the game recorded at least one hit, including all nine starters, while Jose Quintana allowed only one run and five hits over six innings.
Each of the first seven hitters reached base for the Mets in the fourth as New York batted around against the Twins starter, 2018 Mets’ second-round draft pick Simeon Woods Richardson. After taking the first pitch of the at-bat, Alonso launched a 409-foot bomb into the front row of the second deck in left to tie the score and set the merry-go-round in motion.
New acquisition Jesse Winker walked before Mark Vientos doubled to put runners on second and third. Jeff McNeil and Luis Torrens came through with back-to-back RBI singles, the latter giving New York a 3-1 advantage. A Harrison Bader walk loaded the bases, then leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor drove home another run with a single.
Even the outs the Met hit into brought in runs, as Brandon Nimmo and J.D. Martinez made the first two outs on run-scoring sacrifice flies that pushed the lead to 6-1.
New York put up five more runs in the sixth in an inning where 11 men came to the plate, the second inning New York batted around on the night. Nimmo had an RBI single as part of the rally, and two of the runs scored on a walk (to Vientos) and a hit by pitch (Bader) with the bases loaded.
Even with the fusillade of runs, one of the highlights of the contest was when Tyrone Taylor made a leaping catch in right field of a fly ball hit by Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers to take away a home run in front of the wall. Jeffers eventually did get his home run, in the ninth inning off Mets reliever José Buttó on the first pitch of the ninth.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Monday evening’s game, with photos taken by New York-based photographer Gregory Fisher. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 24 pictures in total.
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