Pete Alonso fittingly capped off a fantastic first month in the major leagues with his first career walk-off. His tenth inning sacrifice fly helped the New York Mets overcome a Jeurys Familia blown save and defeat the Cincinnati Reds by a 4-3 score.
The Mets jumped ahead in the third when Jeff McNeil dropped a perfectly executed two-out drag bunt down the first base line to score Juan Lagares from third. The base hit was one of four on the evening for McNeil. Jason Vargas made the run hold up through five innings, as he turned in his best start of 2019 against Reds ace Luis Castillo.
Vargas faltered in the sixth and was tagged for his only blemish, a solo home run by Reds third baseman Eugenio Suarez that knotted the game at one apiece. From there, Mickey Callaway turned the ball over to Robert Gsellman, who danced around some trouble and recorded five outs. The Mets added their third run in the eighth, as Michael Conforto knocked a two-out single up the middle to drive in Jeff McNeil, who led the inning off with a double.
With Edwin Diaz unavailable, Callaway entrusted Familia to pick up the six-out save. After recording a scoreless eighth inning and striking out the first two batters in the ninth, Familia ran into trouble and allowed run-scoring singles to Kyle Farmer and Jose Peraza.
Drew Gagnon was able to fend off the Reds in the tenth, which allowed Alonso to play hero. His sacrifice fly drove in J.D. Davis, who began the inning with a double.
Full recap to follow.
GameThread Roll Call
- MetsFan4Decades: 151
- JR and the Off-Balance Shots: 83
- Jets Mets Devils Nets 16: 72
- Knurk: 68
- amazins8669: 66
- NateW: 52
- PriceIsAlwaysWright: 47
- deegie: 47
- AnneInFlushing: 44
- stickguy: 41
Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.