SAN FRANCISCO — The Mets needed a big hit and Francisco Alvarez needed one for himself.
He belted his first home run of the 2023 season and the second of his career Sunday night in the Mets’ 5-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park. It tied the game for the Mets and gave them a chance, but Drew Smith (1-1) struggled in the eighth and allowed an RBI double to Joc Pederson. The Mets went down quietly in the ninth as Camilo Doval converted the save.
The Mets (14-9) went 7-3 over a 10-game trip, dropping the last two to split the series with the Giants (11-13).
Alvarez’s home run was the highlight of the game for the visitors. The Mets’ top prospect has been billed as a power-hitting catcher since he was signed out of Venezuela five years ago. The power has been obvious at every level of baseball except for the Major League level, though he showed a preview of it last fall during a late-season call-up.
The Mets were hoping a year in Triple-A would help him hone his power even more and allow him to mash big-league pitchers. But the plans changed when catcher Omar Narvaez was injured in Milwaukee in the Mets’ second series of the season. The Mets had little choice but to bring up Alvarez and stick with him, despite the fact that the 21-year-old came into Sunday’s game against San Francisco hitting just .130.
But Alvarez took Giants reliever Tyler Rogers over the left field fence to tie the final game of a four-game series at 4-4 in the sixth inning Sunday at Oracle Park. Rogers, a right-handed submariner, was difficult for the Mets to pick up. Daniel Vogelbach and Brett Baty both looked at called third strikes before Alvarez came up to the plate. Alvarez swung at the first pitch he saw — a slider — and lifted it over the left field fence.
“I felt good overall, but the most important part was that the team won over half of the games we played out here,” Alvarez said through a translator. “We won two out of the three series and we couldn’t get this one, but overall I felt really good.”
Tylor Megill struggled enough for the Mets to replace him after four innings. Megill needed 81 pitches to get through four innings, allowing four earned runs on six hits, walking one and striking out two.
“Just some command,” manager Buck Showalter said of Megill’s issues. “He and (David Peterson) were similar. Sometimes I think maybe they’re trying to do too much with some of the people they’re trying to get out.”
Megill allowed one run in each of the first two innings. Francisco Lindor’s RBI double in the third cut the San Francisco lead to 2-1 and the Mets overtook them in the fourth, pushing two runs over with back-to-back sacrifice fly balls.
The Giants came right back in the bottom of the frame to score two, with Blake Sabol scoring Thairo Estrada on a single to right and Brandon Crawford coming home on a force-out by Brett Wisely to make it 4-3.
“That’s probably one of the biggest, most frustrating things — guys are putting together good ABs and getting run support, I go out and give up runs,” Megill said. “It definitely stings.”
Jeff Brigham bailed out Megill and the Mets’ bullpen, throwing two perfect innings. The Mets went to Brooks Raley and Smith to follow Brigham, with the intent to save Adam Ottavino and David Robertson for the ninth inning and a possible tenth.
“Smitty is a pretty good pitcher,” Showalter said. “He’s had two days off and we were going to pitch the ninth with Otto with the moves they had made, or Robby depending on where they ended up. But we’re comfortable with any of those guys pitching.”
The Mets have played 17 of their first 23 games of the 2023 season on the road. Showalter has lauded the team’s discipline in going 10-7 away from the confines of Citi Field. It’s the most road games of any team in the league so far. The Toronto Blue Jays have played 16 on the road because of construction on Rogers Centre. Finally, the Mets will return home for seven games to host the Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves.
“It’s a disappointing way to end it,” Showalter said. “But guys have been on the road for 17 out of 23 games. It will be good to get in their own beds and have some people in their corner.”
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