Alonso and the Baby Mets power the Mets past the snakes

In what has been a disastrous few days for New York sports, the Mets actually made some good news today. After weeks, months, hell even years of waiting, the Mets finally hired David Stearns to be their President of Baseball Operations to help build out the front office, modernize the organization, and bring the Mets into a badly-needed new era.

On the field, they kept the good times rolling against the Diamondbacks with a 7-4 win featuring contributions from several players who might be built around in 2024. Ryne Nelson was on the mound for Arizona, and he has been one of the worst regular starting pitchers in baseball this year by ERA. So the Mets took advantage, pushing across six runs on seven hits against him.

The offensive outburst started in the third, with the team down 1-0. Brandon Nimmo tripled down the first base line to lead off the inning, and Francisco Lindor followed with a sac fly to tie the game at 1-1.

In the fourth, the bats really started breaking out. DJ Stewart led off with a single, his first of three on the night as he continues his scorching stretch, and Ronny Mauricio followed with an absolute tank job of a home run, the first of his MLB career. It went 440 feet into the Coca-Cola corner. I don’t know if Mauricio will ever lift the ball enough or attain the plate discipline to ever be a real difference maker at the MLB level, but he really hits the crap out of the ball on contact.

The Mets were up 3-1 at that point, and the bats continued to thrive in the fifth off Nelson into the fifth. Nimmo led off with a double, his second XBH of the night, and Lindor followed with a single to knock him in. Two batters later, Alonso hit a tank job of his own, off the facing of the second deck. It was his 44th home run of the year as he continues the chase for 50, and the Mets led, 6-1, at that point.

On the other side, José Butto delivered his second straight solid outing. He allowed just one run in the third on an RBI triple by Ketel Marte, but that was all. He struck out seven and walked three across five innings. Despite his struggles at Triple-A this year and continuing questions about his control, Butto is looking like a safer depth option for next year than we might’ve otherwise thought.

The bullpen, which has been pretty awful since the trade deadline, took over in the sixth and once again struggled. Grant Hartwig allowed a run in the sixth but escaped a bases loaded jam by getting Evan Longoria to ground into a double play. Hartwig’s struggles have been disappointing after he looked fairly interesting earlier this year in the majors and the minors, but he induced a well-timed ground ball here.

Phil Bickford handled the seventh without issue, but Sam Coonrod took over in the eighth and continued to look like an unrosterable pitcher. He walked the first hitter he faced, allowed two singles to load the bases, hit a batter, and walked a batter to yield two runs, while only recording one out.

None of these pitchers should be on the Mets next year.

The game was now suddenly 6-4, and Adam Ottavino had to come in to get out of the bases loaded mess started by Coonrod. Luckily, he was able to get Corbin Carroll, one of the fastest players in the sport, to ground into a swift 5-4-3 double play to end the frame and maintain the lead.

Francisco Álvarez got the Mets a little breathing room back with a solo shot in the bottom half, his 23rd of his rookie season, and extended the lead to 7-4.

Ottavino came back out for the eighth and handled it with aplomb, retiring the side in order to secure the win. Ottavino has a 1.84 ERA in 14.2 innings since the trade of David Robertson.

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What’s WPA?

Big Mets winner: Adam Ottavino, +28.3% WPA

Big Mets loser: Sam Coonrod, -27.8% WPA

Mets pitchers: +16.2% WPA

Mets hitters: +33.8% WPA

Teh aw3s0mest play: Ronny Mauricio homers in the fourth inning, +19.7% WPA

Teh sux0rest play: Ketel Marte hits an RBI triple in the third, -16.8% WPA