Mets' offense erupts for three home runs in 10-1 win over Nationals

Mets’ offense erupts for three home runs in 10-1 win over Nationals

The Mets broke out offensively and routed the Washington Nationals 10-1 at Citi Field on Tuesday night. The win was their eighth in their last nine games at home.

The Mets are now 61-35 in their last 96 games, the best winning percentage in the majors during that time.

Here are the takeaways:

-Pete Alonso stepped up in Francisco Lindor’s absence with a big night, going 3-for-5 with a double, a three-run home run and five RBI.

Alonso had been swinging the bat well in recent days, going 6-for-15, five singles and a home run. So now he’s 9-for-20 (.450) in his last five games.

For the season Alonso has 32 home runs and 86 RBI.

-Tylor Megill delivered his second straight dominant start, allowing one unearned run over six innings against the Nationals.

Last week in Toronto he pitched seven shutout innings against the Blue Jays but went eight days between starts as the Mets moved up Sean Manaea in the rotation so he’ll be in line to make a start in Atlanta against the Braves next week.

Megill has been very good overall since returning to the rotation to replace the injured Paul Blackburn. In four starts since then he has allowed five runs/four earned in 21 1/3 innings for a 1.69 ERA.

That continued what has been a run of excellent starting pitching for the Mets. Going into this game the starting rotation had a 2.03 ERA in September, which was second-best behind only the Cincinnati Reds (1.98).

-After making an error that helped the Nationals take a 1-0 lead, Luisangel Acuna bounced back in a huge way, delivering the game-tying run with an RBI double in the same inning and going on to have a 3-for-5 night that included his first major league home run.

Pretty good way to celebrate his first start at Citi Field. He’s hitting .455 since his call-up last week.

The double in the third inning, smashed to the tune of 109.5 mph off the bat, sparked a four-run inning that seemed to allow the Mets to relax and swing the bats with confidence.

Acuna’s home run in the eighth inning was a no-doubter to left field, going 414 feet.

And despite his error, when he failed to catch a low throw, Carlos Mendoza has said he has been very impressed by Acuna’s defense at shortstop, especially a couple of plays he made late Monday with the go-ahead run on third.

“No panic,” said Mendoza.

-Mendoza may have been tempted to start Luis Torrens behind the plate, considering the Nationals have the most stolen bases in the majors, but he continues to believe Francisco Alvarez is slowly coming out of his long slump, and the belief paid off when Alvarez hit a solo home run in the fourth inning to give the Mets a 4-1 lead.

For Alvarez it was his ninth HR of the season and his third in his last five starts, the first being that three-run shot in the ninth inning in Toronto last Thursday.

-One ongoing concern for the Mets’ is the slump of DH JD Martinez. He went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts on Tuesday and in September is now 3-for-36, hitting .083.

His season average has fallen to .239 and he hasn’t hit a home run since Aug. 30th.

Game MVP: Pete Alonso

The Mets have been waiting all season for Alonso to have one of his signature hot streaks where he carries the ballclub offensively for a couple of weeks. With his five-RBI night on Tuesday he’s hitting .473 in his last five games, looking like he could help provide the finishing kick to the Mets’ push for a wild-card spot.