Pete Alonso hit two home runs and Kodai Senga pitched six strong innings to lead the Mets to an 11-2 win over the Cubs Monday night at Citi Field. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Mets and it was their first victory since the trade deadline.
Alonso got the Mets on the board in the first inning with a three-run homer. Off the bat, it looked like your run-of-the-mill outfield popup. But the ball just kept carrying and the Mets for the first time since Tuesday had a lead. But unlike that game, they never gave it back.
The Cubs cut the lead to two but then Alonso belted his second homer of the game, this one a no-doubter, to give the Mets a 5-1 lead. Alonso had three more chances to get his third homer of the game but he was hit by a pitch, flew out to left and then hit an RBI single off a position player in his final three plate appearances.
Meanwhile, Senga for the second straight game gave up a bunch of hits but there were a few soft ones in there and the Cubs couldn’t really mount a serious challenge against him. Senga came out for the seventh inning but by this time it was raining pretty good. Buck Showalter stalled with the umps before going to the pen. The stall worked, as before Raley threw a pitch the umps called for the tarp.
After a two hour-plus rain delay, the game resumed.
And that made Danny Mendick a happy camper, as he hit his first homer as a Met, a three-run blast in the seventh inning.
Gut Reaction: again Senga delivers a well-pitched game. He has pitched himself into the tier one starters in the majors. Alonso, with one swing of the bat, or two, can cure the teams offensive woes. It would be hard to replace 40 home runs and 100 RBIs if they were to trade him.
Thank god Senga didn’t try to throw more pitches during that rain delay – I thought he was going to sprain an ankle.