It’s not easy to take down these New York Mets. Pete Alonso hit a three-run homer early, and the Mets dominated an ineffective Jack Flaherty, winning 12-6 in Game 5 to keep the National League Championship Series alive.
“We understood that this is a do-or-die game and we have to give everything we had, and that’s what we did,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said.
Starling Marte had three doubles, four hits, and three RBIs for New York. Francisco Alvarez broke out of a slump with three hits, including an RBI single in a five-run third inning.
Jesse Winker hit an RBI triple, and so did Lindor, who felt great after The Temptations performed his upbeat walk-up song, “My Girl,” on the field before the game.
“We showed up today. We needed that,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously, Pete setting the tone in the first inning was important. We just continued to add on.”
After being blown out in three of the first four games, including the last two at home, the wild-card Mets turned things around. They saved their exciting season for the second time in these playoffs, both thanks to Alonso’s three-run homer. They cut their series deficit to 3-2 and sent the best-of-seven NLCS back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Sunday.
“After yesterday’s game, we just had a collective conversation where it was like, hey, this is it,” Alonso said. “This is who we are. This is the situation we’re in and let’s keep continuing to lay it all out there.”
Sean Manaea is set to start Sunday for New York on five days’ rest, while the Dodgers will use another bullpen game because their rotation has been hurt by injuries.
“We come from a lot of adversity,” Mets closer Edwin Díaz said. “We can beat them.”
Flaherty struggled after a strong Game 1 performance. He had thrown seven shutout innings with only two hits in that game, but he fell behind 3-0 just four batters in when Alonso hit a low slider 432 feet to center field for his fourth homer of the postseason.
“He wasn’t sharp, clearly. He’s been fighting something. He’s been under the weather a little bit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Flaherty. “So I don’t know if that bled into the stuff, the velocity. I’m not sure.”
Alonso, set to be a top free agent this fall, also hit a crucial home run when the Mets were facing elimination in Game 3 of their Wild Card Series at Milwaukee. That homer was more dramatic because New York was down 2-0 with just two outs left in the ninth.
Once again, Alonso hit a long ball to help extend his time with the Mets, who drafted him in 2016. The pitch was just over a foot above the ground when he connected, marking the second-lowest pitch he has ever hit a homer on in his career.
“For the rest of us mortals, we fly out. But for him, it’s just an absolute bomb. Just normal Pete,” teammate Brandon Nimmo said.
The big hitter also scored four runs and came back from an 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk in the third inning, when the Mets batted around and took an 8-1 lead.
“He got us going,” Mendoza said. “I thought that Pete did a really good job controlling the strike zone today.”
Knowing it might be his last game at home, the sold-out crowd of 43,841 cheered his name when he came up to bat in the eighth.
“It’s so special. It’s like storybook-type stuff,” Alonso said. “When you grow up as a kid, you dream about that type of stuff.” Flaherty gave up eight runs and eight hits in three innings and didn’t manage to strike out a single batter.
Flaherty gave up eight runs and eight hits in three innings, and for the first time since a September 2022 game with St. Louis against Pittsburgh, he didn’t strike out a batter.
After striking out 12 times on Thursday night, the Mets didn’t miss once. They became the first team to do this in the postseason since the Angels in Game 2 of the 2002 World Series against San Francisco.
“We didn’t chase his secondary pitches,” Mendoza said, referring to Flaherty. “We know he’s got that slider and the knuckle-curve, and he’s going to try to make us chase, and we didn’t do that today. And when he came in the zone with his fastball, we were ready. And that’s the key.”
New York starter David Peterson got out of serious trouble in the first inning, helped by a baserunning mistake from Shohei Ohtani. However, he couldn’t make it through the fourth inning despite having a seven-run lead.
Reed Garrett came in with the bases loaded and threw a called third strike past Freddie Freeman on a full-count sweeper to end the inning.
Dodgers rookie Andy Pages hit two homers and drove in four runs. Mookie Betts also homered for the second straight game, helping Los Angeles come back from an eight-run deficit to make it 10-6.
“It was good to see our guys fight back,” Roberts said. “Certainly, offensively we’re in a really good spot.”
But Ryne Stanek and Díaz then settled things down as the Mets secured the win. Stanek pitched a career-high 2 1/3 innings for the victory, and Díaz got six outs without giving up a run.
“I’m just so happy because this group is so special,” Alonso said. “And I’m happy that we get to live to fight another day and play another game of baseball together.” To win the NL pennant, though, the Mets need two more victories in LA.
“It’s definitely possible,” Nimmo said. “We’ve played with our backs against the wall the whole year, and we’ve been able to rise to the occasion. Some might even say we’re at our best at that time. So if anybody can do it, we can do it.”
