Francisco Alvarez clubs walk-off HR, sends Mets past Os
August 20 - |A|
Francisco Alvarez hit a |B|
walk-off homer in the |C|
ninth inning on Monday |D|
night for the host |E|
New York Mets, who |F|
earned a 4-3 win |G|
over the Baltimore Orioles |H|
in the opener of |J|
a three-game interleague series. |K|
Alvarez |U| dropped his bat and |V| motioned toward the Mets |Y| dugout before embarking on |Z| his trot around the |A| bases following his first |B| career walk-off homer.
Edwin |C| Diaz (4-1) logged a |D| perfect ninth inning for |E| the Mets, who won |F| for the fourth time |G| in 10 games to |H| move within 1 1/2 |J| games of the idle |K| Atlanta Braves in the |L| race for the final |M| National League wild-card spot.
|O| dir="ltr">Ramon Urias and Ryan |P| Mountcastle had two hits |Q| apiece while combining to |R| score all three runs |S| for the Orioles, who |U| fell a half-game behind |V| the idle New York |Y| Yankees in the race |Z| for first place in |A| the American League East |B| and the top overall |C| seed in the AL.
|D| dir="ltr">J.D. Martinez hit a |E| two-run homer in the |F| first against Baltimore starter |G| Trevor Rogers, and Tyrone |H| Taylor laced an RBI |J| single in the fourth |K| for the Mets. After |L| Taylor reached, New York |M| didnt have another hit |O| until Alvarezs homer.
Three |P| other Mets -- Mark |Q| Vientos, Pete Alonso and |R| Starling Marte -- each |S| had one hit.
Urias |U| raced home on a |V| groundout by Jackson Holliday |Y| in the fifth before |Z| he capped a unique |A| sequence against Mets starter |B| David Peterson in the |C| seventh. Peterson balked home |D| Mountcastle and gave up |E| a game-tying solo homer |F| to Urias on the |G| next pitch, making it |H| 3-3.
Rogers allowed three |J| runs on five hits |K| and three walks while |L| striking out five over |M| 4 2/3 innings. Peterson |O| gave up three runs |P| (two earned) on six |Q| hits and one walk |R| while striking out eight |S| over a season-high seven |U| innings.
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