BOSTON — America’s Most Beloved Ballpark deserved a group hug Monday night from the Mets.
After a weekend of offensive futility to start this season, the Mets arrived at Fenway Park desperate for a sign they were much better than the five runs they scored over three days in losing a series to the Braves. The new scenery, coupled with the underbelly of this Red Sox rotation, maybe helped offer reassurance for a night.
Michael Conforto, Pete Alonso and Dominic Smith all homered, leading a 7-4 victory that snapped the Mets’ two-game skid. That “outbreak” was more welcomed than the type discussed before the game, when Brandon Nimmo and manager Luis Rojas both projected a sense of optimism the Mets — through continued vigilance — can avoid the kind of fiasco facing the Marlins, who have at least 11 players that recently tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Something that we saw in the first three [games] is not what this team is and we’ve seen for the most part this is an offensive team,” Rojas said.
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Alonso’s cardboard-cutout decapitating shot that exited his bat at 116.3 mph and barely cleared the Green Monster in the third gave the Mets a 4-0 lead and might have jump-started the young season for the first baseman, who entered 1-for-11 and was getting beat on the fastball, according to Rojas, because he was over-striding. In his first at-bat, Alonso (facing Josh Osich) just missed and was retired on a long drive to center. But he didn’t miss on a 3-0 breaking ball from lefty Jeffrey Springs in his following plate appearance. If real fans, instead of the cardboard cutouts, had been seated in those Monster seats Alonso’s shot could have caused mayhem.
“There is an advisory throughout the ballpark you have to be aware of flying baseballs and bats,” Alonso said. “Hopefully if there were fans here they needed to not be on their cell phone and be locked into the game. I’m glad no one was hurt, but at the end of the day they have got to stay locked in on the game.”
Alonso was a “kid,” according to Rojas, throughout the day as he savored his first trip to Fenway. That included trying to get inside the Green Monster, where it’s customary for players in their first visit to autograph the wall. But with the new safety precautions implemented, Alonso couldn’t access the doorway to get inside.
“I’m not a little upset, I’m a lot bit upset,” Alonso said. “Hopefully I can finagle my way in there [Tuesday].”
Smith’s three-run homer in the fourth turned it into a comfortable evening for the Mets, extending their lead to 7-0. The start was the first of the season for Smith, after Yoenis Cespedes had played the previous three games at DH. Though Smith had an impressive summer camp, finding regular playing time for him might be a challenge for Rojas, who has Cespedes, J.D. Davis and Alonso entrenched in the lineup in the three spots in which Smith can start. Much of Smith’s damage as a big leaguer has come in a pinch-hitting role.
“When I start and have four at-bats it’s kind of lesser pressure that I put on myself because I don’t have just one at-bat as if I’m coming in to pinch hit,” Smith said.
Conforto started the barrage with a two-run blast in the second that landed in the Mets’ bullpen in deep right field. Davis had walked on a full-count cutter from Osich before Conforto jumped on a 2-1 pitch for his first homer.
Smith’s homer came in an inning Wilson Ramos doubled to deep center leading off and Robinson Cano walked. The Alonso three-run homer came after Nimmo reached on Xander Bogaerts’ error and Amed Rosario singled.
A night after Rick Porcello’s brutal Mets debut, Michael Wacha provided much of what was needed. The right-hander won his Mets debut by limiting the Red Sox to one run on five hits and one walk with four strikeouts, departing after five innings and 77 pitches. Porcello on Sunday lasted only two innings and allowed seven runs, six of which were earned, in the Mets’ 14-1 loss to the Braves.