Blackburn and Alonso Guide Mets to 5-1 Win Over Angels

To quote Roadtrippers magazine, “a good, long road trip can be a transformative experience. It can open your eyes to the beauty of your own country, and it may be one of the memories you bore your grandkids with 50 years from now. Alternatively, it can induce panic attacks.”

Pete Alonso crushed a go-ahead two-run homer and the newly-acquired Paul Blackburn escaped several jams while pitching six innings of one-run ball as the Mets began a potentially transformative journey with a 5-1 victory Friday over the Angels in Anaheim. New York (58-51) moved into a tie with the San Diego Padres (59-52) for the final Wild Card spot as a result.

The Mets will visit four cities over the next nine days. After Anaheim, they have games in St. Louis, Denver and Seattle. From Sunday to Tuesday, they will play in three time zones over the span of three days. Here’s a detail sure to amaze the grandkids: a single game in St. Louis Monday is the result of a rainout in May.

Blackburn, who helped beat the Angels (47-63) a week ago as a member of the Oakland Athletics, gave up one run on six hits and two walks while striking out six. He got a lot of help from his new friends along the way. Jose Iglesias turned nifty, inning-ending double plays in the first and fifth innings. Francisco Lindor made a slick tag on the leg of a head-first sliding Jo Adell to catch him stealing in the second when the throw from Francisco Alvarez was to the first base side of the bag.

Alvarez opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second. The Angels evened the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the frame on an Adell single. Alonso broke the tie with a 421-foot bomb to left field off lefty Tyler Anderson for his 23rd home run of the season, giving the Mets a 3-1 lead.

J.D. Martinez added an RBI single in the sixth before the Mets were gifted a run when Angels shortstop Zach Neto booted a routine Mark Vientos grounder with two outs, allowing Lindor to score from third and extending the Mets’ advantage to 5-1.

Brandon Nimmo, who left Wednesday’s game after fouling a pitch off his foot, went 3-for-5 with a run scored. Jose Buttó, who had a 1.08 ERA over 16 2/3 innings in relief in July, stayed hot to start August. He hurled two perfect innings with three strikeouts. Phil Maton pitched a perfect ninth to close this one out.

The trip is off to a good start. So far, no panic attacks.

Stat of the Game

The Mets were 3-for-3 stealing bases. Nimmo (11), Harrison Bader (15) and Tyrone Taylor (7) swiped one apiece.

Player of the Game

Blackburn, the winning pitcher, was making his second start after missing about 10 weeks with a foot injury he suffered in May. He was 4-2 with a 4.41 ERA in nine starts and 51 innings with Oakland. The 30-year-old pitched more than 100 innings in each of the last two seasons.

On Deck

David Peterson (5-1, 3.52 ERA), who took his first loss of the year in his last outing, will battle right-hander José Soriano (6-7, 3.69 ERA) in a 9:38 p.m. ET start at Angel Stadium. The game will air on SNY and MLB Network.

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