NEW YORK -- Could Pete Alonso's return to Queens have been any more impressive?
After an emotional first game back at Citi Field on Monday and hitting his 300th career home run on Tuesday, Alonso went deep again on Wednesday night, leading the Orioles’ four-homer barrage in a 7-1 win over the Mets. Baltimore also completed a sweep of the three-game series.
The O’s (75-78) remain alive in the race for the third American League Wild Card berth, even if their odds are long. They’re now 2 1/2 games behind the White Sox (77-75) for that spot, though they also need to pass both the Rangers (76-76) and Blue Jays (76-77).
Alonso is doing everything he can to try to power the Orioles into the postseason.
“I know that there were people excited for me to come back, but at the end of the day, there’s a job to do,” Alonso said. “We’re playing some really important baseball right now, and my focus -- even though there’s a lot going on externally and I appreciate all the support and I’m so very grateful for it -- is to stay centered and focus on winning baseball games, especially now [in] mid-to-late September.
“It’s crunch time for us, and chasing down a playoff spot is the most important thing.”
Tuesday’s milestone homer for Alonso was a game-tying blast in the ninth inning that allowed Baltimore to then rally for a 7-5 victory in 11 innings. The 31-year-old slugger jump-started the offense on Wednesday, belting a Statcast-projected 410-foot blast into the second deck in left field off right-hander Xzavion Curry to give the O’s a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Alonso’s 301st career homer again elicited cheers and chants of his name from the Flushing crowd. The reaction was overwhelmingly warm for three straight days, as the Polar Bear was given a loud reception any time he stepped onto the field.
“That was extraterrestrial, for sure,” said right-hander Chris Bassitt, who was teammates with Alonso on the Mets in 2022 before reuniting with him on the O’s this year. “Crazy. I mean, that was honestly one of the cooler experiences.”
But nobody can be surprised that Alonso met the moment and delivered on this stage.
“He is literally one of the best hitters that we have [in baseball]. So, am I surprised that Pete does this? No, because he’s literally that good,” Bassitt said. “It’d be hard for Pete to surprise me, just because I genuinely have Pete as a top-3 hitter [in the AL], so I expect top-3 hitters to put on a show.”
Curry gave up all four of the Orioles’ home runs. Jeremiah Jackson hit a two-run homer in the second, Christian Encarnacion-Strand added a two-run blast in the third and Samuel Basallo homered on the pitch immediately following Encarnacion-Strand’s long ball.
Jackson has started each of the past two games in place of Jackson Holliday, who went on the 10-day injured list with left wrist inflammation prior to Wednesday’s finale. The 26-year-old Jackson hadn’t homered for the O’s since June 14, until he went deep on Tuesday.
Alonso, Jackson and Encarnacion-Strand each homered in both of the final two games in New York. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the first time the same three Baltimore hitters have gone deep in consecutive games since Aug. 18 and 19, 2016, when Chris Davis, Manny Machado and Mark Trumbo achieved the feat.
The Orioles’ offense gave more than enough support to Bassitt, who turned in one of his best outings of the season. The 37-year-old tossed a season-high-tying 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball, allowing five hits and one walk while striking out six in a 95-pitch effort.
After an off-day on Thursday, the O’s will return to play Friday to open their final homestand of the year, which features three-game series vs. the National League Central-leading Brewers and Blue Jays. They have only nine games remaining, concluding the season with a three-game road set against the Yankees.
“It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be interesting,” manager Craig Albernaz said. “We unfortunately put ourselves in this position, but we’re still playing meaningful games down the stretch, and for us, that’s what we ask for. Our guys, they’re still competing. They don’t waver, and we’re still in it.”
And as long as that’s the case, the Orioles will continue to be optimistic, even if they’ll need a late surge and some help to sneak into the postseason.
“Win against whoever’s in front of us that day; go 1-0 every single day,” Alonso said. “You can’t look too far ahead, especially where we’re at right now. You can’t look in your crystal ball. The biggest thing that we can do right now is go out there, play to the best of our ability every single night, do whatever we can to win the game.”