Mets’ big bats bash pathetic rockies to finish sweep

When presented with an ailing offense, nine out of 10 doctors recommend facing Rockies pitching. Sure enough, after sweeping a series against a team that has sunk to 9-50, the top of the

Mets lineup has never looked healthier. For the first time this season, Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor and Juan Soto homered on the same day to provide all of the Mets runs in a 5-3 victory

over the Rockies on an unseasonably chilly Sunday afternoon in front of a sellout crowd of 43,224 at Citi Field. “We envisioned that. When you’ve got those three at the top, it’s pretty

special,” manager Carlos Mendoza said of three high-priced bats who have not clicked simultaneously yet this year. “Hopefully they’ll get going here.” EXPLORE MORE In wrapping up a strong

nine-game homestand in which it won seven, Mendoza’s group is a season-high 15 games over .500 (37-22). The Mets can look forward to another three games in Colorado next week, but they will

have to stop at Dodger Stadium for a four-game set first. Their best bats will enter another NLCS rematch swinging well: Lindor, Soto and Alonso combined to pound the worst team in baseball

to the tune of 13-for-32 with six home runs, two doubles and nine RBIs. Alonso enjoyed a torrid April before cooling off in May. Lindor was solid in April and dipped a bit in May. Soto had

yet to look like Soto through the first two months of his 15-year megadeal. June has started well for the most important bats in the order. “Everybody knows that we have a good lineup,”

Lindor said after he and Alonso homered in the same game for the 28th time, breaking the previous franchise record of 27 held by Howard Johnson and Darryl Strawberry. “In baseball it’s tough

for everybody to click at the same time.” It is easier when the opposing pitching obliges. Sunday it was Alonso who helped the club climb out of an early hole. After soft-tossing lefty

Carson Palmquist frustrated the Mets one time through the order, the bottom of the fourth began with a Starling Marte walk and Soto getting plunked. Alonso then erased a one-run deficit by

sending a towering, three-run shot over the bullpen in right-center. “All these games matter, doesn’t matter who you play,” Alonso said of an opponent that slid to 3-28 on the road. The

Rockies tied the game against Clay Holmes (a career-high seven innings in which he allowed three runs on three hits) in the fifth, when Tyler Freeman smacked a slider that didn’t slide over

the wall in right-center to make it 3-3. But a righty-hitting Lindor answered in the bottom of the inning, lasering a homer to left for his third in three games. The Mets have won the past

26 games in which their de facto captain has launched a homer. “I better continue to hit home runs,” Lindor said to laughs. Insurance arrived in the eighth, when Soto’s back knee wound up on

the dirt but he still had enough strength for a bullet sent over the right field wall. The most scrutinized player on the team and among the most in the sport has homered in back-to-back

games and reached base safely in seven of his past eight plate appearances. Three games against Colorado swelled Soto’s OPS from .745 to .792. DELIVERING INSIGHTS ON ALL THINGS AMAZIN’S Sign

up for Inside the Mets by Mike Puma, exclusively on Sports+ THANK YOU All season, the Mets and Soto have maintained that his at-bats have been strong and soon the results would be, too.

Perhaps soon has arrived. “I’ve felt good since Day 1,” Soto said after going 1-for-2 with that homer, a walk and hit-by-pitch. “It’s just the results haven’t been there. Finally I’m getting

some balls landing, finding some holes, some gaps.” The trio’s work mattered because Reed Garrett and Edwin Díaz (13th save) struck out five over two scoreless innings in continuing to look

like one of the best late-game combinations in the game. They ensured Holmes was the winning pitcher, and the 2024 Yankee has gone from witnessing Aaron Judge and Soto on a daily basis to

seeing Soto team up with Lindor and Alonso. “We got some really talented players,” Holmes said. “There will be a time when they’re all clicking, and it’s going to be crazy to watch.”