Alonso's Game-Winner Lifts Mets After Another Bullpen Meltdown
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Rookie Pete Alonso hit a game-winning sacrifice fly off Cincinnati closer Raisel Iglesias in the 10th inning, and the New York Mets rebounded from a blown ninth-inning lead to beat the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 Tuesday night and avoid dropping below .500 for the first time this year.
J.D. Davis, who entered in a ninth-inning double switch, doubled to left-center to cap a 10-pitch at-bat leading off the 10th against Iglesias (1-4). Jeff McNeil singled sharply to put runners at the corners with his fourth hit of the game.
With the infield in and outfield shallow, Alonso hit a fly to the warning track in right. It was the impressive rookie's first walk-off RBI and his 26th of the season - fourth-most in the NL.
New York, which had lost four of five coming in, is just 15-14 despite a 5-1 start.
Backed by McNeil's run-scoring bunt single in the third, Jason Vargas had a two-hit shutout when he pitched into the sixth inning for the first time this year. Joey Votto flied out to the center field warning track leading off the sixth and Eugenio Suárez homered on the next pitch.
With closer Edwin Diaz unavailable after pitching three days in a row, former Mets closer Jeurys Familia tried for his second regular-season six-out save. Even with a 3-1 lead, he fell one out short.
Familia struck out his first two batters in the ninth, walked Jesse Winker on four pitches, then allowed consecutive singles to José Iglesias, Farmer and birthday boy José Peraza, who turned 25.
The Mets setup man's ERA has ballooned to a putrid 6.28 after his latest meltdown. The 29-year-old has also given up 16 hits and 13 walks in just 14 1/3 innings pitched - an average of two base runners per inning.
The underbelly of New York's pen would find a way to escape more trouble.
Daniel Zamora loaded the bases with a walk to Votto, but rookie Drew Gagnon (1-0) struck out Eugenio Suárez. Gagnon escaped a two-out jam in the 10th when Iglesias popped out. Derek Dietrich was hit by a pitch for the fourth time this season and 97th time in his big league career, and McNeil misplayed a grounder to second for an error that created the trouble.
McNeil put the Mets ahead in the third with a two-out, run-scoring bunt single against major league ERA leader Luis Castillo, but Suárez hit a tying home run off Vargas leading off the sixth.
Todd Frazier, a two-time All-Star for the Reds from 2011-15, homered on the first pitch of the seventh for a 2-1 lead. Michael Conforto, in a 1-for-18 slide, added an RBI single in the eighth off Amir Garrett, a former college basketball player at nearby St. John's.
Castillo allowed two runs and five hits in 6 2/3 innings, and his ERA rose from 1.23 to 1.45, losing the big league lead. Five of his seven strikeouts were on changeups, a season-long pattern: He has gotten 38 of 50 Ks on changeups overall.
Vargas allowed just one run for the third straight start and gave up three hits in a season-high 5 1/3 innings.
RARE:
Robert Gsellman led off the bottom of the sixth with the first walk by a Mets reliever since Robert Carson on April 23, 2013, and only the second in the major leagues this year after Cincinnati's Michael Lorenzen on April 9.
REMEMBER ROBBY:
A Cincinnati-area field in St. Bernard that is being renovated will be renamed "Frank Robinson Field" after the Hall of Famer, who died in February at age 83.
He was a seven-time All-Star during 10 seasons with the Reds, winning NL Rookie of the Year in 1956 and MVP in 1961.
TRAINER'S ROOM:
Mets: 2B Robinson Canó was out of the starting lineup for the second straight day because of a swollen left hand. Canó was hit on the outside of his hand by a pitch from Milwaukee left-hander Gio González on Sunday.
OF Yoenis Céspedes is hitting off a tee, playing catch and bicycling up to 40 miles, but he has not started running as he recovers from surgery on both heels last year.
UP NEXT:
Mets RHP Jacob deGrom (2-3) has a 4.85 ERA and losses in three straight outings going into Wednesday's start against Cincinnati RHP Anthony DeSclafani (1-1).
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
