Pete Alonso’s latest milestone home run might have saved the Baltimore Orioles’ season.
Alonso and the Orioles will look to continue their last-ditch playoff dash Wednesday night when they bid to complete a three-game interleague series sweep of the host New York Mets.
Chris Bassitt (7-5, 4.88 ERA) is slated to start for the Orioles against Robert Stock (1-3, 5.93) of the Mets in a battle of right-handers.
Alonso haunted his former team by tying the game with his 300th career homer in the ninth inning Tuesday. Coby Mayo hit a three-run inside-the-park homer in the 11th to lift the Orioles to a 7-5 win.
The dramatic victory kept the Orioles (74-78) three games behind the Cleveland Guardians (77-75) in the race for the third and final wild card in the American League. The Guardians came back to edge the Chicago White Sox 7-6 on Brayan Rocchio’s two-run walk-off double — which happened almost simultaneously with Alonso’s milestone blast.
“Hitting that 300 career milestone and also tying the game in the top of the ninth when we’re still fighting for our lives to stay in the playoff chase,” Orioles manager Craig Albernaz said.
Alonso’s homer elicited a roaring ovation at Citi Field that continued until he stepped out of the visitor’s dugout for a curtain call. The slugger played for the Mets from 2019-25 and is their all-time home run leader.
“It’s great because for us, we’re in a postseason push right now and all these games are important for us,” Alonso said. “We’re playing some really important games right now. Doesn’t matter who we’re playing. It’s really, really important to come down the stretch for us. We want to be in October.”
The Mets (69-82) clinched a losing season Tuesday, marking their third sub-.500 finish in six seasons since Steve Cohen bought the team following the 2020 campaign.
The loss Tuesday frustratingly familiar for the Mets, whose .741 OPS with runners in scoring position is the second-lowest figure in the NL.
New York left runners at second and third in the ninth before tying the game in the 10th, when Marcus Semien had a game-tying RBI double before Francisco Alvarez struck out to leave runners at the corners.
Bo Bichette had an RBI single in the 11th, but Carson Benge, the potential tying run, flew out to the warning track to end the game.
“We had some opportunities to win that game,” Mets interim manager Andy Green said. “We didn’t come through with those opportunities.”
Bassitt earned the win in his most recent start last Friday, when he gave up two runs over five innings against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Bassitt is 2-0 with a 0.44 ERA in three career starts against the Mets, with whom he pitched in 2022.
Stock hasn’t pitched since last Wednesday, when he didn’t factor into the decision after allowing three runs over four innings in the Mets’ 15-14 win over the Miami Marlins.
He made his lone appearance against the Orioles on Aug. 23, 2020, when he gave up two runs in an inning of relief for the Boston Red Sox in their 5-4 loss.
–Field Level Media
