Pete Alonso’s clutch homer awakens Mets’ swagger in extra-inning win over Marlins

MIAMI — Some of the 2024 swagger returned to the Mets on Wednesday.

Four outs stood between manager Carlos Mendoza’s crew and an embarrassing series loss to the Marlins when Pete Alonso decided to awaken the masses.

Alonso blasted a tying three-run homer, the bullpen held the fort, and the Mets pushed across two runs in the 11th inning for a 6-5 victory at loanDepot park.

The Mets won the series and completed a 3-3 road trip.

Jesse Winker drew a bases-loaded walk in the 11th before the Mets added insurance when shortstop Xavier Edwards couldn’t handle Mark Vientos’ grounder.

Danny Young surrendered a run in the bottom of the frame before Huascar Brazobán entered to record the final two outs, with the tying and winning runs on base.

The Mets had squandered a chance to go ahead in the 10th inning, when automatic runner Luisangel Acuña reached third base with nobody out. Luis Torrens and Francisco Lindor were retired on weak fly balls, and Juan Soto grounded out to strand Acuña .

With it 4-4, the Marlins threatened against Edwin Díaz in the eighth. Edwards appeared to score the go-ahead run, sprinting home from third on Griffin Conine’s grounder to Brett Baty with a drawn-in infield.

Edwards was called safe on the dive into the plate, but the call was overturned on replay. Torrens, who applied the tag, punctuated the inning by throwing out Conine attempting to steal second.

Clay Holmes had a second straight start in which he failed to pitch five innings, but defensive letdowns didn’t help his cause. The right-hander lasted 4 ²/₃ innings and allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.

Alonso’s RBI double in the first gave the Mets a 1-0 lead. Soto singled against Connor Gillispie to start the rally, but Alonso was left stranded at second base as Brandon Nimmo and Winker were retired.

Defensive lapses led to the Mets falling into a 2-1 hole in the third inning. Tyrone Taylor got a bad read on Conine’s fly ball to center, and the ball fell for a single to load the bases. After Matt Mervis hit a sacrifice fly, Vientos fielded Otto Lopez’s grounder and threw it away on a play at the plate that should have been the second out.

But with runners on first and second, Holmes struck out Graham Pauley and Liam Hicks in succession to avoid further damage. Of the two runs the Marlins scored in the inning, only one was earned.

Holmes was removed after Lopez’s infield single with two outs in the fifth put runners on first and second. Reed Garrett was summoned to retire Pauley for the final out.

Hayden Senger, in his first major league start, doubled with two outs in the fifth for his first career hit. But the Mets didn’t benefit from the unexpected gift: Lindor struck out to end the inning.

Winker walked leading off the seventh, but Vientos struck out and Baty hit into an inning-ending double play.

The Marlins extended their lead to 4-1 in the seventh against A.J. Minter. After Conine doubled leading off, Minter fell down on the mound during his delivery — he never released the ball — for a balk.

Vientos fielded Lopez’s ensuing slow grounder, looked to the plate and decided there was no play before firing late to first base. Hicks’ RBI single with two outs widened the Mets’ deficit to three runs.