QUEENS, NY — Pete Alonso delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the New York Mets to a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday night at Citi Field. The victory marked the Mets’ second in a row and opened their series against Pittsburgh on a high note.
“If you give Pete Alonso a chance, you feel pretty good about your chances,” said Mets manager Carlos Mendoza.
Facing Pirates closer David Bednar in the ninth, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto started the rally with back-to-back singles, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Alonso then lofted a fly ball deep enough to right field to score Lindor from third and seal the win.
“Just looking for a good pitch to hit. That doesn’t change,” Alonso said of his game-ending at-bat, which earned him the eighth walk-off RBI of his career. “Whether it’s a fly ball, hit, or passed ball—it’s about executing the game plan. The fly ball got it done.”
The game almost slipped away in the top of the ninth, when Pittsburgh tied it 3-3. Mets reliever Huascar Brazoban, pitching in place of the unavailable Edwin Díaz, had trouble keeping the Pirates at bay. Lindor missed a potential double-play ball off the bat of Alex Canario, and Luisangel Acuña couldn’t field a chopper cleanly, allowing the tying run to come home.
Earlier, New York took a 3-2 lead in the seventh. Tyrone Taylor, pinch-hitting for Brett Baty, was hit by a pitch, stole second, and advanced to third on an infield single by Acuña. Soto grounded out to first, bringing in Taylor to tie the game. Moments later, Alonso hit a sharp grounder that slipped under the glove of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes, allowing Acuña to score from second.
“I saw the ball go through and Sarbaugh [third-base coach] was waving me—I just kept going,” Acuña said. “In any part of the game, I want to make an impact—whether on defense or on the bases.”
The Mets’ slim lead in the eighth was briefly threatened by Joey Bart, who launched a 1-1 slider from reliever Dedniel Núñez to deep left. But Brandon Nimmo made a leaping catch at the wall to rob Bart of a potential game-tying home run.
“As soon as he hit it, I thought it was gone,” Mendoza said. “But Nimmo went up there and made a tremendous play.”
Neither starting pitcher factored into the decision. Pirates phenom Paul Skenes and Mets lefty David Peterson both allowed just one run in solid outings. Skenes went six innings, allowing six hits while striking out six and walking three. Peterson gave up five hits, walked three, and struck out seven.
“It’s always fun to face a team’s best—it becomes a pitching duel,” Peterson said. “Games like that come down to the pitching staff holding the line so the offense can find a way to break through.”
Peterson’s only blemish came on a solo home run in the second inning by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who was activated from the injured list earlier that day and capped a personal milestone by meeting the son of his late cousin, Mets Hall-of-Famer Ralph Kiner, for the first time.
The Mets answered in the fourth inning when Nimmo cracked a leadoff double and scored on Jeff McNeil’s one-out RBI double to right. They kept applying pressure but couldn’t cash in against Skenes, who worked out of jams in the fifth and sixth. He struck out Soto and Alonso back-to-back in the fifth after a Lindor single, then induced an inning-ending double play from Francisco Alvarez in the sixth.
Peterson exited in the seventh after issuing a 10-pitch walk to Jared Triolo. Triolo later stole second and advanced to third on a balk by reliever José Butto. Bryan Reynolds drove him in with a fielder’s choice to give the Pirates a brief 2-1 lead.
The Mets’ comeback in the seventh and Alonso’s clutch finish in the ninth ultimately secured the victory, pushing their record to 27-15.
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