Ronny Mauricio’s first MLB homer helped lead Jose Butto to his first MLB win, as the Mets used the long ball to down the Diamondbacks, 7-4, Tuesday night at Citi Field.
Mauricio hit a monster home run, deep into the Coca Cola corner, a two-run blast that made it 3-1 Mets in the fourth inning. Statcast had it at 112.4 mph off the bat and with a distance of 440 feet.
Pete Alonso also homered and his blast was a little bit harder off the bat, although it didn’t go quite as far. It was the 44th homer of the year for Alonso, who now has 105 RBIs on the season.
Francisco Alvarez added the Mets’ final homer, which came after the D’Backs cut the lead to two runs. It was a wall-grazer, compared to the two majestic blasts by Mauricio and Alonso. But it gave the Mets a much-needed insurance run.
Brandon Nimmo had a big day, with two doubles, a triple, a walk and two runs scored. DJ Stewart also had a three-hit game, as the Mets pounded out 13 hits on the night.
Meanwhile, Butto put up his second strong start and this time he finished his final inning, not leaving any inherited runners for the bullpen to allow to score. His final line was 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 3 BB and 7 Ks. He’s been almost an afterthought but Butto can make a case for a rotation spot here in September, too.
The bullpen allowed 3 ER in 4 IP and unfortunately, that counts as a good outing here lately. Grant Hartwig gave up a run and it would have been more if he didn’t get bailed out by his defense. Sam Coonrod gave up 2 ER in 0.1 IP and it would have been more if he didn’t get bailed out by Adam Ottavino, who pitched the final 1.2 IP to earn his 10th save of the year.
Does Showalter not knowthink that when a relief pitcher does well and has a clean inning (Bickford), that the rules does allow them to go back out and start/pitch another? Or did he think that the twelve pitches thrown for that one clean inning was enough?
God I hope Stearns cans Buck.
Ooops, sorry. I guess that since Phil did walk a batter (not a clean inning after all), that his night was too traumatic for him to go a second inning.
Sorry, early morning cant-get-to-sleep crankiness. Congratulations to Mauricio and Butto for their “firsts”, and good game for Nimmo and Stewart in particular.
So, is Stewart a true jewel that the Mets have? Should he be an important factor for 2024 and beyond?
The Mets could do a lot worse than having an OF of McNeil, Nimmo and Stewart next year. Spend the money on pitching!
Mets spunkiness doing damage to their race to finish in bottom 6. Baty still looks very lost.
I was at that game. Great one. Got to see Mauricio’s first major league home run. And how hard he hit it, he truly has some serious power as he’s shown in the minors.