Pete Alonso homers, knocks in three as Mets edge A's

Pete Alonso remained red hot Friday night, when the Mets slugger homered and finished with three hits and three RBIs to lead New York to a 7-6 win over the Athletics in the opener of a three-game series in West Sacramento, Calif.

Luisangel Acuna added two hits for the Mets, who have won seven of eight.

Miguel Andujar was 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs for the Athletics, who lost for the fourth time in five games and fell to 1-6 at home.

Alonso, who didn't re-sign with the Mets as a free agent until just before spring training in mid-February, went 3-for-3 and was hit by a pitch. He had an RBI double in the fifth and lofted a sacrifice fly in the sixth before homering for what proved to be the decisive run in the eighth.

Alonso is batting .378 with a National League-leading 18 RBIs through the Mets' first 13 games. He didn't reach 18 RBIs until New York's 36th game last season.

New York's Brandon Nimmo homered off JP Sears (1-2) in the second, and Luis Torrens laced an RBI double later in the frame. Starling Marte hit a two-run double in the sixth to extend the Mets' lead to 6-1.

The Athletics began mounting a comeback attempt in the bottom of the sixth against Griffin Canning (1-1), who was chased after giving up Jacob Wilson's RBI single and Andujar's two-run homer.

Canning yielded four runs on seven hits -- including Andujar's RBI single in the second -- and three walks while striking out three over 5 1/3 innings.

Reed Garrett, Ryne Stanek and AJ Minter combined for 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball before the Athletics scored twice in the ninth against Edwin Diaz. The New York closer earned his third save despite giving up Shea Langeliers' RBI double and surrendering a sacrifice fly to JJ Bleday.

Diaz then got Wilson, representing the winning run at the plate, to ground out to second.

Sears allowed three runs on six hits and one walk while striking out seven over four-plus innings.

--Field Level Media