The New York Mets have been red hot for the better part of a month, but it appeared they were temporarily out of gas Monday night. They had already beaten the Miami Marlins in the first game of a day-night doubleheader and crept to the .500 mark for the first time since May 28, so it would be easy to relax for a game.
The Marlins led 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh when the Mets decided that one win Monday wasn’t enough. J.D. Davis led off the inning with a solo home run to cut the lead to 4-3. Then, with two outs, Michael Conforto hit a big blast to tie the game 4-4.
Finally, with Citi Field buzzing like it hasn’t all year, Pete Alonso — the already beloved rookie “Polar Bear” — sizzled a line-drive home run to left, giving the Mets the lead, eventually a 5-4 win and giving real belief to thousands of fans.
THIS. PLACE. IS. ROCKING. #LGM pic.twitter.com/i6ap3bHwSd
— New York Mets (@Mets) August 6, 2019
High drama
Even after Davis’ home run to cut the lead to 4-3, the Marlins had appeared to right the ship with back-to-back outs. Their new closer, Jarlin Garcia, has been effective and would pitch the ninth, so the Mets were running out of opportunities.
But Scooter and the Big Man — that’s Conforto and Alonso, for those who can’t keep up with all the nicknames — came through big time.
“We know we’re far from our goal,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said, according to the Associated Press. “We have to continue to climb and climb and climb, and scratch and claw.”
“We’re never gonna lay down, we ain’t going nowhere. You can come give a try. Our bond is our blood and thicker than water. Like Goonies, we never say die” #LFGM 🍎
— Pete Alonso (@Pete_Alonso20) August 6, 2019
A hot team
Combined with a much more routine 6-2 victory in the early game Monday, the Mets have won 11 of their past 12 and have climbed to 57-56, above .500 for the first time since they were 16-15 on May 2. They straddled the .500 line throughout May, then fell off the pace in June and were forgotten.
Still, the Mets traded for Marcus Stroman at the trade deadline, getting a low price and sensing an opportunity to make a run. And here they go. The Mets are two games back in the NL wild-card race, and their playoff odds have increased from 3.9 percent on July 24 to 32.7 percent just two weeks later, according to Fangraphs).
Looks like this is a team to keep an eye on for the season’s final eight weeks.
The boys are hot! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/w6Ad3dFblQ
— MLB (@MLB) August 6, 2019
