NEW YORK (AP) — With their season on the brink, the biggest stars for the New York Mets shined bright. Pete Alonso launched a tiebreaking homer and Jacob deGrom pitched well enough to help save New York with a 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres that evened their wild-card playoff series at one game apiece Saturday night. “Win or go home,” deGrom said. “Love pitching here.
Mets fans have been great to me. Didn’t want to disappoint.” Francisco Lindor also went deep, Jeff McNeil laced a critical two-run double and All-Star closer Edwin Díaz entered much earlier than usual to protect a one-run lead in the seventh inning.
New York broke open the game by scoring four times in the bottom half, keyed by the bases-loaded double McNeil lined off Adrian Morejon through a drawn-in infield.
Seth Lugo retired cleanup batter Josh Bell on a grounder with the sacks full for the save, ending a game that took 4 hours, 13 minutes. “It was a close game in the middle innings and then it got away from us there in the seventh," San Diego manager Bob Melvin said.