Clayton McCullough had no good option before him. The Marlins’ first-year manager was damned if he did, and damned if he didn't on Tuesday afternoon at Citi Field. This pickle was the handiwork of the Mets' offseason spending coming to fruition: Do you pitch to Juan Soto or walk him to load the bases and take your chances against Pete Alonso?
McCullough, trying to maintain a one-run deficit with one out in the bottom of the sixth, opted to walk Soto and let right-handed reliever Edgardo Henriquez go after Alonso with the bags full. That decision was no surprise to Mets manager Carlos Mendoza: “I think it gets to a point where it’s pick your poison there.”
What did the red-hot slugger think of the intentional walk ahead of him? “Hell yeah, alright, let’s go,” Alonso said. “Time to execute a game plan.”
The slugger, who already had a wind-aided RBI double earlier in the game, said it wasn’t the first time a team has walked somebody to face him. His plan in that position was to “stay within an approach” and “capitalize when the ball shows up there.”
The ball certainly showed up in the form of a 0-1 sinker that dropped right over the middle of the plate and thigh-high. Alsono was all over it, driving it 112.6 mph off the bat into the left-center gap to clear the bases and solidify the Mets' sixth consecutive win.
"I was just really stoked to have that chance to come through for the team right there," he said.
Alonso, who finished the day 2-for-4 with a walk, now has 15 RBI and is slugging .692 with a 1.139 OPS through his first 39 at-bats. The key? “Just getting pitches over the plate and capitalizing,” he said. “Fouling off tough pitches when they’re on the corners late in the count. When they vacate the zone, don’t swing.”
He added: “I definitely feel confident, but every day is a new battle, a new challenge, and every single day, I just want to feel consistent in my mechanics and making good decisions pitch to pitch and at-bat to at-bat.”
A simple recipe that has been successful and one that the man hitting before him appreciates.
“He’s been taking really good at-bats,” said Soto, who also went 2-for-4 with a walk. “He’s been taking his walks and everything, he’s not trying to be the hero. He’s really settled down. When the moments needed. Whenever he gets a pitch, he tries to drive it. If not, he takes his walks.”