When presented with an ailing offense, nine out of 10 doctors recommend facing Rockies pitching.
Sure enough, after sweeping a series against a team that has sunk to 9-50, the top of the Mets lineup has never looked healthier.
Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto smoked shots that provided all of the Mets runs in a 5-3 victory over the Rockies on an unseasonably chilly Sunday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 43,224 at Citi Field.
In wrapping up a strong nine-game homestand in which it won seven, Carlos Mendoza’s group is a season-high 15 games over .500 (37-22). The Mets can look forward to another three games in Colorado next week, but they will have to stop at Dodger Stadium for a four-game set first.
Their best bats will enter another NLCS rematch swinging well: Lindor, Soto and Alonso combined to pound the worst team in baseball to the tune of 13-for-32 with six home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs.
Sunday it was Alonso who helped the club climb out of an early hole. After soft-tossing lefty Carson Palmquist frustrated the Mets one time through the order, the bottom of the fourth began with a Starling Marte walk and Soto getting plunked.
Alonso then erased a one-run deficit by sending a towering, three-run shot over the bullpen in right-center, breaking a tie with Howard Johnson for fourth-most RBIs (632) in franchise history. Next up on the list is Mike Piazza’s 655.
The Rockies tied the game against Clay Holmes (a career-high seven innings in which he allowed three runs on three hits) in the fifth, when Tyler Freeman smacked a slider that didn’t slide over the wall in right-center to make it 3-3.
But a righty-hitting Lindor answered back in the bottom of the inning, lasering a homer to left for his third homer in three games. The Mets have won the past 26 games in which their de-facto captain has launched a homer.
Insurance arrived in the eighth, when Soto’s back knee wound up on the dirt but he still had enough power to lift a Zach Agnos splitter over for the right-field wall.
Reed Garrett and Edwin Díaz (13th save) struck out five over two scoreless innings in continuing to look like one of the best late-game combinations in the game.
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