Pete Alonso’s first trip back to Flushing and Citi Field on Monday came with plenty of noise and a lot of appreciation from the crowd.
He was greeted with cheers during batting practice, then heard it again in each of his four at-bats. Before the game, the Mets played a two-minute tribute video for Alonso. He finished 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout, but the reception made it clear the fans were glad to see him.
On the field, though, Baltimore kept its season flickering with a 2-1 win over the New York Mets (69-81).
The game stayed tight from the start because both starters delivered. Brandon Young worked 4.0 innings for Baltimore, giving up one run on five hits while walking five and striking out six.
The Mets’ only scoring play against him came on an A.J. Ewing homer in the fourth.
Young also worked out of trouble in the second, when he escaped a two-out bases-loaded jam, and he later handled traffic in the third and fifth innings with runners in scoring position.
Jonah Tong was just as sharp for New York. He allowed an unearned run on four hits, walked one and struck out six across 6.0 innings.
The sequence that led to Baltimore’s run started when Francisco Alvarez was charged with a passed ball on a Christian Encarnacion-Strand strikeout. That allowed Jackson Holliday (2 for 4) to move up to second, and Heston Kjerstad (2 for 4) followed with an RBI double to bring him home.
From there, Baltimore’s bullpen slammed the door. Over the final 4.0 innings, the Orioles allowed only one hit. Josh Walker struck out one over 1.2 innings, Yennier Cano got the last out of the seventh, Grant Wolfram gave up a hit and struck out one in the eighth, and Rico Garcia finished with a clean ninth.
That set the stage for Gunnar Henderson to deliver the biggest swing of the night. With two outs in the eighth, Henderson (1 for 4) launched his 23rd homer of the season to right-center field, a solo shot that stood up as the winning run. The bullpen made sure of it, and Cano (3-3) picked up the win while Garcia earned his 9th save.
Baltimore also gained a game on the Cleveland Guardians (76-75), who fell 7-3 to the Chicago White Sox.
In Other News...
Orioles Have One Huge Samuel Basallo Question This Offseason
Samuel Basallo gave the Orioles a glimpse of what their future behind the plate could look like in the first half of the season, but the year did not stay on that track for long. A right shoulder injury sent the young catcher to the injured list starting July 22, interrupting a promising stretch and adding to a season already marked by left knee discomfort and a left shoulder issue.
When Basallo returned on Aug. 19, the results were harder to square with the early progress. His average, slugging and exit velocity all dropped sharply as the Orioles slipped further out of playoff contention, leaving the club to weigh what the next step should look like for one of its most important young players. The talent is still there, but the bigger question now is how Baltimore manages his health and development going into the offseason. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Keep Their Fading Playoff Push Alive With A Late Heroics
The Orioles found just enough offense at Citi Field to keep their late-season push from slipping any further, using a tight, low-scoring night to edge the Mets 2-1. Heston Kjerstads RBI double got Baltimore on the board, and the pitching staff did the rest by holding New York to one run in a game that stayed on a razor-thin margin throughout.
Cedric Mullins, meanwhile, came through with the kind of swing the Orioles have been searching for in these tense September moments, delivering the decisive jolt after the game had settled into a deadlock. Baltimore still has work to do to keep its season alive, but wins like this are the only way forward now, especially with every mistake magnified and every inning starting to feel like a turning point. [Read more 🡒]
Orioles Just Reached A Painful Point In Their Season
The Orioles have reached the point in a long, frustrating season where the standings no longer leave much room for denial. Even before the latest trip to Toronto exposed more of the same problems, Baltimores mix of inconsistent offense and shaky defense had pushed the club into a corner, with the math and the tiebreakers both working against any real hope of a postseason push.
Now the focus has to shift toward what comes next. Baltimore can use the final stretch to give younger players more meaningful looks and keep an eye on pitcher health, because the better play is no longer to chase a distant playoff path but to make sure the organization gets something useful out of the months ahead. [Read more 🡒]