It was only fitting that Pete Alonso launched the 100th home run of his impressive young career in the very stadium that he hit his first big league home run back in early 2019. And in his home state, no less.
Alonso hit homers No. 100 and 101 as a big leaguer in Tuesday’s 9-4 win over the Marlins, driving in three runs to help lead the way to a victory at a time when every single game is vitally important to the Mets’ playoff chances.
“It’s truly a blessing. To be able to get to those numbers as quickly as I did, it’s truly a blessing but also there’s a lot of hard work that’s been put in basically throughout my entire life,” Alonso said after the game. “I’m just really blessed to have this opportunity and to be able to perform at an extremely high level.
“There’s so many people who have been in my life who I’m just so thankful for — family, friends, coaches, teammates. Without those people having such a positive influence on me, for me to be able to perform like this consistently wouldn’t be able to happen. So, I just want to say thank you to everybody in my life that’s had a positive impact on me. I’m really appreciative, and it’s awesome. Hopefully I get two, three, four, five, six hundred more.
“Just having triple digits in my career in such a short time with like two and a half years, roughly – special. It’s really, really special.”
After a record-setting 53 home runs as a rookie in 2019, Alonso went through some lulls in 2020, though he still managed 16 home runs in the abbreviated 60-game season.
According to Luis Rojas, the Polar Bear is once again showing signs of his NL Rookie of the Year form from 2019.
“Pete is a special player in this game, right? He can change the game easily with one swing,” said Rojas. “We’re seeing his stroke, he looks like the Pete Alonso who was swinging in ’19 and hitting all those homers. He looks just like that. … We’re all excited for the milestone that he accomplished tonight.”
Alonso hit the century mark with a two-run blast in the first inning, tagging a 98 mph fastball from Edward Cabrera to become the second fastest player in MLB history to reach 100 homers. Alonso’s 100th homer came in his 347th big league game, trailing only former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard (325 games).
In becoming the second quickest ever to 100 big flies, Judge jumped ahead of names like Gary Sanchez (355), Aaron Judge (371), Ralph Kiner (376), Joey Gallo (377), Ronald Acuna Jr. (378 games) and Chuck Klein (390).
“Those are some heavyweight hitters in that list, and it’s truly, it’s really special,” Alonso said upon hearing where he fell on the list. “Hitting that triple-digit, there’s a lot to reflect on in a positive way, and I’m just truly thankful and blessed.”
With the win on Tuesday night, the Mets climbed back to a game over .500 at 70-69. With 23 games remaining, the Mets are now 4.0 games back in both the NL East and 3.5 back in the Wild Card race, and Alonso hopes that he’s able to help the Mets continue to win as many games as possible down the home stretch.
“Every time I step in the box I want to help my team to the best of my ability,” Alonso said. “For me, I take pride driving guys in and putting runs up on the board. For me, this is such a team game and there are so many different facets to win, but I just want to be as productive as I possibly can.
“Every single time I’m in that box I want to be able to impact the game and help us win, and I want to be a big part of that.”