If all goes according to plan for the New York Mets, Juan Soto will play more than 1,200 home games at Citi Field over the next 15 years.
More games like the one Friday might convince the Mets to ensure Pete Alonso remains his wingman well beyond this season.
The Mets will look to lock up a series win Saturday night when they host the Toronto Blue Jays in the middle contest of a three-game interleague set.
Griffin Canning (0-1, 3.18 ERA) is slated to start for the Mets against Chris Bassitt (1-0, 1.50) in a battle of right-handers.
Alonso and Soto sparked the Mets in their home opener on Friday. Alonso belted a two-run first-inning homer before the duo played central roles in a three-run sixth as New York added insurance in a 5-0 win.
Alonso appeared likely to exit New York as a free agent in late January when owner Steve Cohen called the negotiations with the slugger and his camp “exhausting” and “worse” than the ones with Soto, who signed a 15-year deal worth $765 million in December.
But Alonso returned to the Mets in February on a two-year deal worth $54 million with an opt-out after this season.
Alonso wasted little time providing a return Friday when he went deep off Kevin Gausman for his third homer in the past four games.
“That’s why they call him the ‘Polar Bear,'” Soto said of Alonso. “Just tremendous power.”
Soto had an RBI double and scored on Brandon Nimmo’s double in the sixth inning.
“When he’s swinging the bat well, when he’s hot, I think he’s really good protection, giving me a chance to see more pitches around the strike zone and to do more damage,” said Soto, who also stole a base in the eighth inning.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for the Blue Jays, who were held to four hits for the second time in their first eight games. Toronto, which was 0-for-9 with runners on base Friday, has scored more than five runs just once this season.
The quiet offensive showing increased the pressure on Gausman, who didn’t strike out a batter Friday for just the fifth time in 292 career starts. But the right-hander retired 14 straight batters before he walked Francisco Lindor and was pulled for Mason Fluharty, who surrendered Soto’s double.
“A strange one,” manager John Schneider said of Gausman’s start.
Canning took defeat in his Mets debut on March 29, when he allowed two runs on four hits over 5 2/3 innings in New York’s 2-1 loss to the Houston Astros. He is 0-0 with a 4.02 ERA in three career games (two starts) against the Blue Jays.
Bassitt earned the win last Sunday when he gave up one run over six innings as the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1. The 36-year-old, who went 15-9 with a 3.42 ERA for the Mets in 2022, is 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA in two starts against New York.
–Field Level Media
