Alonso's moonshots, Mets' franchise first knock Braves out of playoff spot

DENVER -- Earlier this week in St. Louis, when asked about his relative down year, Pete Alonso flat-out rejected the premise.

“I mean, I’m on pace for close to 40 homers,” Alonso said that afternoon. “I’m an All-Star, or I was an All-Star this year. So to beat myself up or be frustrated, it’s really no use. And I’m really excited for the end of the year where we get to play winning baseball.”

Perhaps Alonso wasn’t quite aware of how his numbers compared to previous seasons. Perhaps he blocked out the noise from those who felt Francisco Lindor or Brandon Nimmo were more worthy All-Star Game representatives. Or perhaps he simply knew a breakout was coming.

Whatever his logic, Alonso has been a better player over the first week-plus of August than he was in July, thanks in large part to the two home runs he hit Thursday afternoon in a 9-1 victory over the Rockies at Coors Field.

“Home runs can be happy accidents,” Alonso said. “Just the result of swinging and capitalizing on a good pitch, hitting it hard to the big part of the field.”

Feeling right at home in the thin air of Colorado, Alonso cranked the second-longest homer of his career -- a Statcast-projected 471 feet, 18 shy of his career long back in 2019 -- off Austin Gomber in the first inning, as the Mets opened the game with four consecutive extra-base hits for the first time in franchise history. He added a more modest 454-foot shot to lead off the third, finishing with his first three-hit game since June.

“I just felt it, and I knew I got it,” Alonso said of the first homer. “I didn’t really know how far it was going to go. I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ That’s definitely one of my best bolts.”

At the time of Alonso’s “on pace for close to 40 homers” proclamation, he was, in reality, only on pace for 33. Even after his two-homer performance on Thursday, Alonso is still on track for 35 -- better than all than about a dozen other big leaguers but also the lowest full-season pace of his career.

That, in essence, is the deceptive part of evaluating Alonso. His numbers clearly have taken a hit from past seasons, including career-worst marks in slugging percentage and OPS. He’s also clearly still one of the best power hitters in the National League -- and the Mets’ most potent threat.

“He’s been hot, cold at times,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But I’ve been saying it for a long time: He can carry a team for quite a bit, too. We saw it today. Two balls, he hit them pretty far. And that’s who it is.”

NL East power shift
The victory not only lifted the Mets back into a National League Wild Card berth but also knocked the Braves out of playoff position for the first time since June 10, 2022. Atlanta had held at least a share of a postseason spot every day since that time, until Danny Young struck out Brenton Doyle to end the Mets’ victory in Colorado.

If the season ended today, the Mets, D-backs and Padres would be playoff teams, while the Braves would finish a half-game back.

Of course, the season does not end today. The Mets still have 47 games to play, including three in Atlanta to begin their final road trip of the regular season. Those games could prove crucial to the NL playoff race, as the Braves look to rally despite playing most of this season without their top hitter (Ronald Acuña Jr.), pitcher (Spencer Strider) and several other important pieces.

Rocky Mountain homecoming
Until this week, David Peterson had never pitched at Coors Field, the closest ballpark to his childhood home outside Denver. He had been on the roster multiple times during visits to Colorado but was never lined up to pitch in a series.

That finally changed Thursday, when Peterson fired five innings of one-run ball to collect the win at Coors.

Nearly 30 of his closest friends and family members, including Peterson’s wife and two children (one of whom is less than a month old), came out to watch.

“It was fun to finally do it,” Peterson said. “I’ve missed it every time before this, so it was fun to finally go out there and pitch here. Always good to have friends and family in the stands.”