NEW YORK-. Pete Alonso hit a home run and drove in five runs, the Venezuelan Luis Angel Acuña hit his first major league homer to cap a big night at the plate, and the New York Mets routed the Washington Nationals 10-1 on Tuesday.
New York thus increased its chances of advancing to the playoffs, in a tight fight for the last spots.
Tylor Megill (4-5) had another strong performance in the batter’s box, replacing the injured Paul Blackburn. Francisco Alvarez also homered for New York, which improved to 10-2 against Washington this year.
New York moved two games ahead of divisional rival Atlanta in the race for the final wild-card spot in the NL. Much of the 24,932 fans at Citi Field began celebrating when it was announced that Cincinnati had beaten the Braves 6-5.
Cuban Jose Iglesias had three hits and scored twice. He was first in the order, as Puerto Rican Francisco Lindor complained of back pain.
Acuña, 22, replaced Lindor at shortstop and fell one triple shy of hitting the cycle. He scored three times as the ninth hitter in his fourth major league game.
Braves star Ronald Acuña’s younger brother drove in New York’s first run with a double, his first extra-base hit in the majors.
After all this play, Luis Angel Acuna He raised his offensive line to .375 average, also adds .375 OBP and .875 slugging. The Venezuelan infielder has three hits in eight official at-bats with the team Carlos Mendoza.
“I’m very excited to be here, just because of the opportunity that God has given me but also because of the energy that the fans have given us today,” added the youngest of the Acuñas.
Brothers Luisángel Acuña and Ronald Acuña Jr. are the tenth pair of Venezuelan brothers to reach the Major Leagues and next season they could face each other when the Mets face the Braves.
Alonso fell one triple shy of the cycle, hitting a two-run single off starter Mitchell Parker (7-10) in the third inning.
For the Nationals, Dominican Jose Tena went 0-for-4. Venezuelans Juan Yepez went 0-for-3, Ildemaro Vargas went 0-for-2, and Keibert Ruiz went 0-for-4.
For the Mets, Cuban Iglesias was 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Dominican Starling Marte was 2-for-4 with one run scored. Venezuelans Álvarez was 1-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI, Luis Torrens was 0-for-1, and Acuña was 3-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
