NEW YORK _ Monday was a night for the Mets to exhale.
Jacob deGrom threw seven brilliant innings and was rewarded for it, thanks to the relief work of Seth Lugo.
Pete Alonso added to his single-season team record for home runs with Nos. 46 and 47, inching closer to Mark McGwire for the second-best total ever by a rookie.
And with their 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a four-game set at Citi Field, the Mets are still breathing in the NL Wild Card chase.
They pulled within 3{ games of the second Wild Card spot held by the Cubs, who played a late game at San Diego. The gap between New York and the Diamondbacks narrowed to 1{.
Alonso added another team record by reaching base for the 34th consecutive game. He did so on the second pitch he saw from Merrill Kelly, parking it in the left-field seats.
Meanwhile, deGrom fanned 11 to register his ninth double-digit strikeout game of the year and 41st of his career. He walked one and allowed three hits: Two singles and a solo homer by ex-Met-returned-home Wilmer Flores.
DeGrom (9-8) edged back over .500 with approximately three starts left to make this season. Talk of a second straight Cy Young Award has begun to surface and is as real a possibility as a second straight 10-9 record.
The difference this year is that the right-hander's ERA (2.70) is a full run higher, albeit still among the league leaders.
Perhaps the most mind-boggling stat of deGrom's past two seasons � other than the Mets' unconscionable 25-36 record in his starts � is the number of no-decisions. With 13 in 2018 and 12 more this season, the total from his first four years (30) has nearly doubled.
Lugo ensured another deGrom gem did not go to waste with his fifth save, a two-inning job. The Mets bullpen has cost its ace five victories this season, and his ERA in those dozen no-decisions is 1.85.
The announced crowd of 21,337 � which seemed generous given the upper deck's emptiness � sounded as if it had plenty of hope (and breath) left, especially after Alonso's solo shots. They even shared some cheer with Flores, who played his first game at Citi Field as an opponent.
The player who still holds the Mets franchise record for walk-off hits (10) was expected to get a warm ovation prior to his first at-bat and did. There was a surprisingly positive reaction after the Arizona second baseman hit his eighth homer of the season in the fifth (it only cut the Mets lead to 2-1).
Alonso got the run right back in the bottom half, raising his team-leading RBI total to 109.
