Alonso homers twice, including his franchise-record 253rd, to power Mets past Braves 13-5

NEW YORK (AP) — Pete Alonso broke the Mets' franchise home run record, going deep twice and knocking in three runs as New York beat the Atlanta Braves 13-5 on Tuesday night.

Alonso’s first homer, a two-run shot off Spencer Strider (5-10) in the third inning, was his 253rd. He moved past Darryl Strawberry, who had held the team mark since 1988. Following the homer, the Mets displayed a graphic on the scoreboard with the number 253, alongside pictures of Alonso and polar bears in honor of the slugger’s nickname.

Alonso homered again off Austin Cox in the sixth for his franchise-record 25th career two-homer game, three more than Strawberry.

Brandon Nimmo hit a tiebreaking three-run homer in the fourth for the Mets, who snapped a seven-game skid with just their second win in 13 games. Francisco Alvarez also homered twice and Brett Baty also went deep as New York moved within five games of NL East-leading Philadelphia.

The Mets hit all six of their homers with two outs, tying the mark for a single game in the expansion era.

Drake Baldwin had a run-scoring groundout in the first for the Braves. Nacho Alvarez Jr. (two-run double), Jurickson Profar (fielder’s choice) and Matt Olson (double) all had RBIs in the fourth, when Atlanta chased Clay Holmes.

Gregory Soto (1-1) got four outs in relief for the win. Justin Hagenman worked four hitless innings for his first save.

Key moment

Nimmo’s homer was his first since July 23. He hit .177 (11 for 62) in between homers.

Key stat

Alonso is the 10th player in team history to hold sole possession of the all-time home run record, dating to Gil Hodges, who hit the first homer in team history in the Mets’ debut on April 11, 1962.

Up next

Braves RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-2, 6.18 ERA) faces his former team Wednesday. LHP David Peterson (7-5, 2.98) starts for the Mets.

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb