New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019

nypost.com

52

THIS IS

40!

By MIKE PUMA

KANSAS CITY, Mo. —Fo r Pe te’s

sake, he crushed it.

Pete Alonsotook a giant cut in Sun-

day’s ninth inning and unleasheda tow-

ering drive to wa rd the left-field corner

at KauffmanStadium that landed in the

record book.

With homerNo. 40, theMets first

baseman seta National Leaguerookie

record and put the icing on an 11-5 vic-

tory over theRoyals that gavehis team

a series win.

Alonso broke the NL rookierecord for

homers set by CodyBellinger in 2017. He

is now one shortof the franchiserecord

for homers in a season, sharedby Carlos

Beltran andTodd Hundley.

“It’ s something that,coming into camp

I didn’t know if I was going to make the

team or not,” Alonsosaid. “To break this

record and have a good season andkeep

playing thewayIhave beenplaying and

just tryto help thiste am win, this sea-

son has been unbelievable. It has beena

dreamcome true sofar.”

Alonsoplaced therecord ball in his

locker, nextto the one he crushed in

Atlanta on Thursday to tie Bellinger’s

NLrookie mark.This latest souvenir

was give n to himby a family of Ro yals

fans who hadretrieved it. Alonso, in

gratitude, gave thema signedbat, cleats

and autographedbaseballs.

“I’m justreally thankful that they did

that,” Alonsosaid of the fans. “That was

a real classy move, for sure.”

AaronJudge holds the MLBrookie

record with52 homers in 2017. But any

nextce lebrat ion fo r Alonso willrev ol ve

around the franchiserecord of 41 hom-

ers in a season.

“It says you can’tcountanybody out, ”

manager Mickey Callaway said “Espe-

ciallyaguy who doeseverything right

andwo rk s hard. Ifyou sa id [hewould

set home runrecords] threeyears ago or

even when you saw himtwo years ago

in spring training, peoplewould have

lookedat yo u like you ha d two heads.

That is a lot of hard work and dedica-

tion andyou have to be so proudfora

kid like that.”

The Mets (64-60) survived theroad

trip 3-3 and will now get the comfortsof

Citi Field fo r ninega mes, with the Indi-

ans, Braves andCubs headed into town.

The Cubs holda two-game lead on the

Mets, Brewers and Philliesfor the sec-

ond wild-card berth.

A six-run seventh inning against the

brutal Royals bullpenwas the difference

for the Mets. After J.D. Davis delivereda

pinch-hit RBI singleto tie it 4-4, Amed

Rosario brought intwo runs witha

grounder through the drawn-in

infi eld. Alonso smashed an RBI

double aspart of the onslaught

in the inning.

“We know what timeof

the season it is,” Alonso

said. “It’s timeto go, so we

just needto keep trying

to play quality baseball

and wingames.Not every

game is do-or-dieat this

point, but ev eryga me mat-

tersa lot.”

MichaelConforto entered

3-for-19 (.158) on theroad trip,

but launcheda 452-footrocketfora

three-run homer against Glenn Spark-

man in thefirst inning.Conforto fin-

ished withfour RBIs ona day theMets

totaled16 hits as thefirst four hitters

combinedfor 11.

Zack Wheeler lasted only five innings

and allowed four runs, threeof which

were earned, onfour hits and one

walk intwo strikeouts.It wasasecond

straight disappointing startfor Wheeler,

who pitched only five innings against

the Braves lastTu esday and surren-

deredfive earned runs.

Wheeler’s throwing errorwas the big

play in thefifth, when theRoyals scored

three runs andtook a 4-3 lead. Afte r

Bubba Starling and Brett Phillips singled

in successionto begin the inning,Nick

Dini bunted and Wheeler’s throw pulled

Joe Panik off first base. WhitMerrifield

followed with an RBI single andNicky

Lopez’s fielder’s choice tied it 3-3. Hunt-

er Dozier hita sacrifice fly to put the

Mets behind.

The Royals scratchedforarun in

thefourth after Dozier doubled and

took third on a wild pitch.Jorge Soler

reached ona catcher’s interference

and the run scored onRyan O’Hearn’s

ground out.

Now theMets are ready to come

home.

“Hopefully we cancontinueto get that

energy from thefans,” Conforto said.

“We really fed off of the fans on ourpast

homestand and it allowed us to be ener-

gized and it’sahuge advantage for us.”

[email protected]

Alonso smashes NL rook HR

record as Mets maul Royals

METS 11

ROYALS 5

Boxscore

Page34

NL WILDCARD

Team W-L GB

Nationals 67-56 +1.5

Cubs 66-58 —

Mets 64-60 2.0

Phillies 64-60 2.0

Brewers 64-60 2.0