NEW YORK — If this was indeed a farewell, Pete Alonso went out with a bang.
Over the past six seasons, Flushing’s first baseman has delivered memory after memory for the adoring patrons of Citi Field. Set to become a free agent whenever the Mets’ storybook season draws to a close, Alonso has been understandably noncommittal about his future. A loss on Friday would have, perhaps, signaled the end of a magnificent run for a magnificent player.
But Alonso and his indomitable Mets wouldn’t go down that easily.
In the bottom of the first inning of Game 5 of the NLCS, Alonso scooped a Jack Flaherty curveball well below the strike zone and sent it rocketing toward the Big Apple in center. As a desperate Citi Field rose to its feet, the man of the hour admired his handiwork, strolling down the baseline before hucking his bat to the heavens about 10 feet from first base. It was Alonso’s fourth long ball of this postseason and the 106th of his career to come at Citi Field, far and away the most in the stadium’s history.
That swing started a party, perhaps the last of many in what has been an unforgettable year in Queens. New York took Game 5 over the Dodgers 12-6. Their season, for now, is still breathing. Yet the odds remain long as the series heads west, with the Dodgers still up three games to two. If the Mets want to play another game at home this season, they’ll need to conjure two more improbable performances in L.A.
Alonso, with an early swing, offered Mets fans the chance to dream.
“Pete with a big one to set the tone,” Mets skipper Carlos Mendoza said in his postgame media conference. “We needed it today [and] to continue to add on because we saw it — they’re not going to shut down. They’re going to continue to put pressure on you. That’s a really good offense there. I’m proud of the guys. Definitely Pete, a big one in the first inning.”
Moments after his opening salvo, Alonso journeyed through a tunnel of atta boys and butt slaps toward the far end of the home dugout. There, he engaged in the team’s customary home run celebration: a picture with José Iglesias’ enormous plastic OMG sign. Per tradition, the homering hero is joined by anyone else who scored on the play. In this case, it was Brandon Nimmo and Francisco Lindor, the other two most prominent Mets hitters during Alonso’s tenure.
The three posed, their arms draped around one another, toothy grins stretched across their faces. It’s the type of photo that — whether or…