PHOENIX — It was a far cry from the playoff atmosphere the Mets have faced in San Diego over the past four games, but the quality of the opponent was similar and so was the opening day result.
Ultimately, the results over the next two days of this series will be key, but the Mets are playing well in their opening games on the road.
On Tuesday night, Arizona fielded its entire roster and beat the Diamondbacks 8-3 in front of 22,575 fans at Chase Field, ending Arizona's six-game winning streak.
The Mets (69-63) are increasingly at risk of being pushed to the backburner if they fall further behind Atlanta, who are three games behind them in the National League wild-card race.
The Braves had already won the night, and the stakes only increased.
But the Mets gave Sean Manaea plenty of breathing room after he broke out in the fifth and continued to pitch strongly through the seventh.
Pete Alonso hit a home run, but the genius of this Mets performance was the way they continued to hit through a fifth inning that didn't end until 12 batters had reached bat.
The Mets, who are 3-2 on the road, won their opener against the Padres last Thursday but were unable to turn that win into a series victory, then lost, won and lost again in the three days since.
At the very least, the Mets will want to win one of their next two games before heading to face the awful White Sox.
Manaea led the Mets to a scoreless seventh inning.
The pitcher gave up three runs before leaving the game with two outs in the inning.
Two of those hits were by Corbin Carroll, who sent them over the left field fence.
Despite some shaky moments in the final 2 1/3 innings, the Mets got the shutout win behind relief pitchers Reid Garrett, Phil Mutton, Danny Young and Adam Ottavino.
Alonso's leadoff home run in the second inning gave the Mets a 1-0 lead.
The home run was Alonso's 220th career hit, tying him with Mike Piazza for third on the Mets' all-time home run list.
Alonso's home run was his 28th of the season, passing Francisco Lindor for the team lead.
The Mets added an earned run later in the inning off Brandon Fatt's pitching.
J.D. Martinez walked, and an error by Kevin Newman (misplaying a fat throw on Tyrone Taylor's comeback pitch) allowed a runner to advance to third base.
An RBI fielder's choice by Jeff McNeil extended the Mets' lead to 2-0.
Josh Bell's leadoff single in the top of the second was Arizona's only hit against Manaea until Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a leadoff home run in the top of the seventh.
In the fourth inning, Bell struck Francisco Alvarez on the right wrist with a swing, resulting in catcher's interference.
Alvarez was in obvious discomfort but continued competing after being examined by a trainer.
Alvarez hit an RBI single in the top of the next inning to give the Diamondbacks a 3-0 lead, but McNeil's double sparked the comeback.
But the Mets were hardly done with that inning.
Mets win on Aug. 27, 2024. Getty Images
By the end of the frame, the Mets had scored six times and led 8-0.
The Mets sent 12 batters to home plate in the inning, knocking Fath out and replacing him with Jordan Montgomery.
Mark Vientos hit a one-run single in the inning and Brandon Nimmo singled to load the bases before Alonso struck out.
A sacrifice fly by Jesse Winker put the Mets up 5–0, and a single by Martinez loaded the bases again.
Montgomery came on and hit Taylor off the back foot to add one run, then McNeil walked to add another run.
Alvarez reached base on a fielding error by Gerardo Perdomo and scored the final run of the inning.
