NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso and the major league-leading New York Mets were at their finest in the field Tuesday night.
Never known for slick defense, Alonso made a and the Mets put on a dazzling display with their gloves during an
At the center of it all was a breathtaking fourth inning, when New York turned in behind starting pitcher David Peterson to set down the Diamondbacks 1-2-3.
“That inning was — I’ve never seen something like that. And I’ve heard multiple guys say that,” Peterson said. “The defense was spectacular.”
Said manager Carlos Mendoza: “Pretty unbelievable. That inning right there is what you call a big league defensive inning.”
Randal Grichuk led off with a hot shot wide of third base. Mark Vientos dove to his left and the ball glanced off his mitt right to shortstop Francisco Lindor, who grabbed the deflection in the hole and fired to first for a snazzy 5-6-3 putout.
Peterson watched it unfold and let out a little laugh on the mound.
“I was trying to decide whether or not that just kind of happened or somehow those two cooked that up over there,” he said. “It was an unbelievable play.”
And still, the best was yet to come.
Cleanup hitter Lourdes Gurriel Jr. then launched a long drive to left-center that looked like a sure double. But speedy center fielder Tyrone Taylor ran it down and made a fully extended diving catch at the edge of the warning track, bringing the Citi Field crowd to its feet chanting “Let’s go Mets!”
Peterson and catcher Francisco Alvarez both raised their arms, and a grateful Peterson tipped his cap in Taylor’s direction.
“Superman catch,” Alonso said. “Those two plays back-to-back like that, I mean, unbelievable sequence of events right there. I don’t think you find two better plays.”
Taylor sprinted 86 feet at an average speed of 29.4 feet per second to make a play with a 45% catch probability,
“About halfway to it, I thought I had a chance,” he said.
As he tossed the ball back in, cameras caught a smiling Taylor mouthing “wow.”
“I shocked myself a little bit,” he explained after the game, before wishing his mom a happy birthday.
Eugenio Suárez then smoked a sharp one-hopper to shortstop, where Lindor went to a knee and smoothly corraled a difficult in-between hop on his backhand before throwing to first to end the inning.
“It was three circus plays. But when you see it three times, it’s something they expect to do,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “And that’s who they are, that’s why they’re a good team and in first place in their division. But when we’re watching that happen, I think it should inspire our guys. It’s very inspiring to see that type of baseball.”
With the entire ballpark buzzing, fans gave the Mets a standing ovation as they trotted off the field still up 7-0.
“It’s pretty special. You’ve got the lead and you feel like you’re putting pressure on them and they come back and try to put something together — and we were ready today,” Mendoza said.
“Guys’ first steps on every pitch, and then you get the reaction from the fans, you know? It’s kind of like a standing ovation when someone comes up to the plate, or when someone hits a homer. You don’t see that too often, and it happened back-to-back-to-back plays. So yeah, it’s really good to see that.”
Before the night was over, Peterson gave Taylor three hugs.
“I love it, man. It’s just part of the game, you know?” Taylor said. “We’re all out there playing for each other, so it’s awesome.”
Taylor said he was “just going all out” to make the catch and acknowledged he would probably watch the replay a few times Tuesday night.
“When that ball went up, I’m looking at Taylor, where he started, I was like, `No way he’s going to get there.’ And before you know it, he’s diving for it and makes a ridiculous play,” Mendoza said. “And then another guy hits a bullet and Lindor makes it look like a routine play. I thought Pete had a really good day defensively, too. Couple of nice diving plays, so overall I thought we played really well.”
Lindor and Alonso also homered in the game. Taylor had an RBI double and a run-scoring single.
Backed by his flashy teammates in the field, Peterson (2-1) allowed one run and five hits over five innings to earn the win.
“I feel like anybody on our defense can make any kind of play like that. It was crazy to have three of ’em in an inning, and I just wanted to get off the field and give those guys hugs because that was unbelievable,” he said.
“It gives you a ton of confidence,” Peterson added. “I think when you string plays like that together, it’s great momentum for the team.”
___
AP MLB:
