Mets Morning News: A bottle of Don Julio 1942 and some big boy bombs

Meet the Mets

For the second night in a row, the Mets logged a decisive victory against the Cardinals, this time shellacking St. Louis 13-2. The Mets put a few runs on the board early thanks to some shoddy defense by the Cardinals and then Daniel Vogelbach blew the doors off the game with a grand slam in the fifth to put the Mets up 7-1. Pete Alonso added a (very) long ball of his own in the sixth, which added two more runs to the Mets’ ledger. Kodai Senga earned his tenth win of the season, giving up just one run on a solo homer by Nolan Arenado but nothing else over seven strong innings of work. Freshly called up from Triple-A, Vinny Nittoli pitched the final two innings of the game to seal the series victory for the Mets.

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We now know the nature of the gift Pete Alonso sent to Masyn Winn as an apology for throwing the ball from his first hit into the stands: a bottle of Don Julio 1942 tequila and an autographed bat with a personalized message.

The Mets did some more reshuffling of their pitching staff yesterday, optioning Joey Lucchesi back to Triple-A, designating Dennis Santana for assignment (again), and calling up Vinny Nittoli and Adam Kolarek.

Around the National League East

An eight-run eighth inning led the Phillies to a 12-3 victory over the Nationals in Washington DC.

The Phillies provided some injury updates yesterday; imaging on Ranger Suárez’s hamstring revealed a Grade 1 strain, Brandon Marsh will return from the injured list today, and Jose Alvarado should be back tomorrow.

The Braves came from behind to beat the Giants 6-5 thanks to Eddie Rosario’s go-ahead two-run homer in the eighth inning.

The Dodgers swept the Marlins in a doubleheader yesterday, winning each game by a score of 3-1. To nobody’s surprise, Mookie Betts was a major factor in both victories for the Dodgers.

Around Major League Baseball

The Reds called up top prospect Noelvi Marte, adding to the sudden surge of rookie talent arriving in the big leagues with the ability to retain their rookie status next season.

Will Leitch of MLB.com took a look at each team’s biggest impending free agent this offseason.

The Dodgers placed Tony Gonsolin on the injured list with right forearm inflammation; he is unlikely to return this season.

Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue

Lukas Vlahos brought us the Daily Prospect Report.

This Date in Mets History

On this date in 1985, Dwight Gooden became the first National League pitcher to strike out at least 200 batters in his first two seasons.