KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Pete Alonso almost had the first grand slam of his career, which would have also broken the National League rookie home run record and given the Mets a lead. But the ball went just foul, and though the Mets challenged, the call stood with two outs in the seventh inning.
His next swing did not produce nearly as flashy a result, but it got the job done.
Alonso grounded a ball up the middle, and by the time Royals second baseman Whit Merrifield slid and grabbed it, the rookie slugger was already almost to first base. One run had scored and another raced toward home. Merrifield fired a throw home, but for some reason, reliever Tim Hill cut it off and the run scored easily to give the Mets a two-run lead.
The Mets (63-60) on Saturday won, 4-1, in a game they desperately needed after losing four of their last five. They were not perfect or dominant, but as Alonso's soft-hit infield single in the seventh proved, sometimes that does not matter.
And the margin of error is certainly larger when you have Jacob deGrom on the hill against Kansas City, which entered the series having scored the third-fewest runs in baseball.
DeGrom carried a perfect game into the fourth inning, when the Royals scored their only run. He did not allow another as he only gave up three hits over seven innings, lowering his ERA to 2.61.
The Mets have only scored five runs in 18 combined innings against one of baseball's worst teams. Yet, they have a chance to win a series on Sunday.
On Saturday, Juan Lagares and Aaron Altherr _ both struggling at the plate this season _ started because J.D. Davis is dealing with calf soreness. Lagares finished 3 for 4 with an RBI triple, while Altherr went 1 for 3 and was hit by a pitch. They produced more than what might have been expected of them.
Before Alonso broke the tie in the seventh, Amed Rosario worked a walk to load the bases. He fell behind 0-2, but battled back and showed some of that improved two-strike approach Mets manager Mickey Callaway has mentioned. He had two impressive takes of pitches that were close to the strike zone.
DeGrom protected the advantage in the bottom half. He allowed the first two Royals to reach, but escaped unscathed to end his night on a high.
An inning later, the Mets added necessary insurance when Lagares smoked a run-scoring triple to right field.
A three-run lead was enough for the bullpen, which followed a dominant deGrom.
DeGrom lost his perfect game by walking Alex Gordon before Hunter Dozier's broken-bat single ruined the no-hitter and put runners on the corners.
The Royals scored when Jorge Soler hit a chopper to Alonso, who could not corral it and received an error. It is difficult to say whether it would have been an inning-ending double play had Alonso fielded it, though.
On a day the Mets placed Robert Gsellman on the 10-day injured list with triceps soreness, Callaway went to Justin Wilson for the eighth. He pitched it cleanly and Seth Lugo finished the job in the ninth.
Whether they want to admit it or not, the Mets badly needed this victory. A series loss to lowly Kansas City would have been a disaster.
