By his own admission, Pete Alonso didn’t even get all of it — but the ball still might be travelling if he did.
The Mets’ rookie first baseman crushed his first Citi Field home run in the clutch Saturday, getting a pitch off the end of his bat and sending it 427 feet to the batter’s eye — the first of back-to-back homers with Robinson Cano — to spark a 6-5 comeback win over the Nationals.
“I caught some barrel on it, but I didn’t have the best swing on it,” Alonso said. “I was honestly surprised it went over the fence. But I got enough of it to get it over the fence. It was a really cool moment.”
It was Alonso’s second home run in eight games, a display of raw power for the 24-year-old, who is batting .367 with a 1.139 OPS.
“The ball jumps off his bat,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “I know [bench coach Jim Riggleman] said, ‘Man, I haven’t seen a guy where the ball jumps off his bat like this.’ I haven’t either. It’s pretty special.”
With the home crowd buzzing, Alonso got back to the dugout after rounding the bases and wondered how that could be topped.
“I was actually sitting next to Tomas Nido and I told him, if [Cano] hits one here, this place is going to absolutely erupt,” said Alonso, who added a double. “And he hit one to the moon. The place absolutely went berserk. That was really fun.”
Jeff McNeil was out of the lineup for the third time in eight games. Two, including Saturday, came against Nationals lefty Patrick Corbin as Callaway opted to start a pair of right-handers in third baseman J.D. Davis and outfielder Keon Broxton instead.
It worked out nicely, as Davis hit two home runs and Broxton delivered the game-winning hit. McNeil, meanwhile, pinch-hit in the eighth and got hit by a pitch to extend the rally.
Callaway said the decision was partly based on not having three lefty-hitting outfielders and getting Broxton playing time, but also to make sure McNeil’s “banged-up” knee fully healed with back-to-back days off.
“He felt fine when he played [Thursday], but that can still be an issue that lingers if we put too much pressure on him,” Callaway said.
Callaway saved Brandon Nimmo from a shot at a golden sombrero, getting him out of the game on a double switch after he struck out for the third time in the bottom of the fifth inning. Nimmo now has 17 strikeouts and just two hits in 26 at-bats.
The Mets will skip Jason Vargas’ turn in the rotation, allowing Jacob deGrom (Tuesday) and Noah Syndergaard (Wednesday) to start on five days’ rest against the Twins.
Leading 1-0 in the sixth inning, the Mets conceded a run by playing the infield back with a runner on third and one out. Ryan Zimmerman drove in Anthony Rendon with a groundout to shortstop.
“We trust our bullpen better than theirs,” Callaway said. “We thought at that point, if we give up one, we’re OK. … We wanted to keep the damage to a minimum … and it worked out just like we planned.”
Former pitchers Turk Wendell and Rick Reed, members of the Mets’ 2000 World Series team, were in attendance as part of the organization’s alumni program, meeting with fans before the game.
Long before Aaron Judge did so with the Yankees, Wendell was the first (and only) player in Mets history to wear No. 99.
“When I got traded here, [Edgardo] Alfonzo was wearing 13,” the former reliever said. “I had no idea what number to have and have no idea why, I just told Jay Horwitz, ‘How about 99?’ I thought it was cool.”
— Additional reporting by Peter Botte