A pitching duel in Philadelphia was overtaken by a Polar Bear on Wednesday afternoon as Pete Alonso socked two doubles and a home run in a five-RBI day, powering the Mets (5-2) to a 9-6 victory over the Phillies (3-3) at Citizens Bank Park.
In what was just the second time in his career that Alonso posted five or more RBI in a game, he did all his damage over a three-inning span — the fourth, fifth, and sixth frames — helping to break the game open and relegate Phillies ace, Aaron Nola, to a loss while delivering Max Scherzer his second win in as many starts as a Met.
Scherzer didn’t have his best stuff, but he gutted out another positive appearance on Wednesday — allowing just one run with seven strikeouts in five innings of work despite allowing five hits and yielding another three walks.
All three of them came in the first inning as he walked the bases loaded, which was the first time that he walked three batters in a single inning since Sept. 13, 2017. But the future Hall of Famer bore down, getting Jean Segura to strike out before coaxing a Didi Gregorious groundout to get out of the jam.
Brandon Nimmo hit his second home run in as many days, a solo shot over the right-center-field wall with two outs in the third inning to put the Mets on the board.
The Mets managed to put up a pair in the fourth and drive Nola out of the game. After Alonso doubled home Starling Marte from first base, Nola walked Eduardo Escobar and proceeded to hit Mark Canha and Jeff McNeil with pitches to plate New York’s third run of the afternoon and end the Philadelphia ace’s day with just one out in the frame.
It took Seranthony Dominguez just three pitches to get out of the inning, though, as he got Tomas Nido to ground into a double-play to limit the damage.
Scherzer ran into trouble again in the fourth but didn’t get out unscathed, this time. A lead-off double by Nick Castellanos followed by an infield hit from Jean Segura put runners at the corners with no outs. After two straight strikeouts of Didi Gregorius and Johan Camargo, Bryson Stott snuck a liner over the glove of Lindor at short to drive in the Phillies’ opening run.
Alonso got the run right back in the next half inning, ripping his second RBI double of the afternoon that scored Francisco Lindor with two outs.
More timely two-out hitting provided an exclamation point for the Mets in the sixth — which should have put the game away. After Starling Marte’s one-run single, Alonso launched a three-run shot over the right-center-field fence to give the Mets an 8-1 lead and give the slugging designated hitter five RBI in a three-inning span.
But New York’s ever-escalating bullpen problem reared its ugly head in the picture once again to make the finish far more interesting than it should have been.
Sean Reid-Foley and Joely Rodriguez combined to allow four runs in the sixth and seventh innings to make it a three-run game, but the Mets tacked on one more in the ninth when Dom Smith’s sacrifice fly scored Escobar, who had tripled.
Bryce Harper canceled it out with his first home run of the season in the bottom of the ninth against closer Edwin Diaz, who got the ball in a four-run game. He managed to set down the next three men he faced, though, to secure the win.
