Francisco Alvarez hit a 3-run homer in the first inning, one of five homers on the night, to back strong pitching from Jose Quintana to lead the Mets to an 11-5 win over the Nationals in a game that wasn’t that close. The Mets have now won four of their last five games and hold a 2.5 game lead in the chase for fourth place.
Alvarez has been scuffling for the last month and hasn’t hit lefties all season. So, it was especially nice to see him take Patrick Corbin deep to give Quintana a big cushion early.
Sent to the mound with a four-run lead, Quintana allowed hits to the first two batters and saw a run immediately shaved off his lead. But that’s all he would give up. Quintana ran a high pitch count the first two innings but settled in to give the Mets seven innings and handed off the game with a seemingly bullpen-safe lead at 10-1.
But Sam Coonrod faced five batters and they all reached base, with four of them coming in to score, to make the game look somewhat competitive.
Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso both homered for the Mets and Brandon Nimmo swatted two long balls. Alonso now has 42 HR on the year and the Mets’ top four home run hitters have combined for 112 HR. Remember a little while back when people tried to say with a straight face that Nimmo was succeeding because he wasn’t trying to hit home runs? I swear, it seems people would rather lose a game 3-2 if both runs came via bunts and sac flies rather than win a game 11-5 with five homers.
With the outing, Quintana lowered his ERA to 3.00 on the season, giving him a lower mark than Kodai Senga, albeit in significantly fewer innings. If you were told before Opening Day that Senga would have a 3.08 ERA and Quintana a 3.00 mark on 9/5 and that the top four HR guys had combined for 112 homers, you’d probably be feeling pretty good about where the Mets stood.
Oh well, at least the Baby Mets are getting a shot. Alvarez had a walk, another hit and stole a base, before being driven in by Ronny Mauricio. Mark Vientos was hit by a pitch twice and just missed a home run, with a ball hit high off the wall that went for a triple. And Brett Baty had a two-run single and made three nice plays in the field, ending the game with a strong throw to first after a flashy fielding play deep at 3B.
Gut Reaction: Quintana pitched a very strong seven innings of work. Baty played an outstanding third base. Mauricio hit the ball hard and he showed off his good arm also. It must be September because Alvarez is hitting again. Even Vientos got in the act with his triple. I would like to see him get some reps at first base. It was a nice dominant win.
Indeed – a good game. What do we think about Vientos and Baty heading into the off-season? Major League ready or will they be AAAA type players?
The Mets are essentially out of it, Washington is a lower echelon team, and September games are what they are…but they still count and they are still Major League Baseball. Quintana is fun to watch as he is a real pro despite not having overpowering stuff. It will be very beneficial to 2024 for everyone to finish strong, but especially guys like Alvarez and McNeil, who should play major roles next year. It would also be great if we saw some if not all of the Vientos/Baty/Mauricio group have solid Septembers, and DJ Stewart to not fall off a cliff. Adding 2 solid starters and 2 solid relievers for 2024-2026 to this group could both make 2024 decent as well as set the table for 2025 and beyond.
Great to see Alvarez finally launch. He will be fine. Anyone can go into a home run slump for a month. I think Pete even went on one from end of June to end of July. I hope Nimmo reaches 30 home runs, Lindor reaches 30-30 and finally Polar Bear Pete finishing with the most home runs this year (trails Olson by only 3).