Pete Alonso Goes into the All-Star Break with Most RBI's In First Half in Franchise History

Mets All Star Slugger first baseman, Pete Alonso, was having one of the best seasons in franchise history. Leading the majors in RBI's & going into the All-Star break with more RBI's than nay Mets player in the franchises sixty-year history. 

With the Mets in first place & Alonso possibly on his way to an MVP record setting season, all was good in the first half of 2022.

Spring Training: Early on in March of 2022, Alonso was involved in a car accident in Tampa, Florida. He said it was a "really close experience to death". Pete was driving to Spring Training in Port St. Lucie with his wife following behind him. Luckily, he & his wife Hayley were ok. 

Next, toward the end of Spring Training he signed a $7.4 million contact with the Mets avoiding arbitration. 

Pete Alonso started the season at the plate, with a pair of hits in the Mets 5-1 Opening Day win in Washington D.C. In that game he was hit in the shoulder & face with a pitch having to exit the game. Thankfully he was ok & returned the next day. 

First Career Grand Slam: Two days later, in the Mets third game of the season, Alonso hit his first career grand slam HR, it came off the Nats, Joan Adon, in a 5-0 Mets win, Chris Bassist's fist win as a Met.

On April 13th, Alonso collected a season high five RBI's, a feat he would match three times in the first half of the season. In the 9-6 Mets win at Philadelphia, he collected two RBI doubles, one off Aaron Nola & another off Seranthony Dominguez. He later hit his second HR of the year; a three-run shot off Connor Brogdon.

The next day he had two sac fly RBIs in a 10-3 win at Citi Field over the d-backs. On Sunday he hit a two run HR in the Mets 5-0 shut out over Arizona for another Mets series win. 

In Arizona he collected a pair of RBIs in the Mets extra inning win in the first game of the series. 

On April 26th, he was hit by a pitch by the Cardinals Kodi Whitley. Pete was enraged & glared at Whitley on his way to first base. Manager Buck Schowalter was also enraged at how many times his Mets have been hit.

On Thursday April 27th, after J.D. Davis was hit by a pitch & had to leave the game, the Mets
Yohan Lopez came close to the Cardinals Nolan Arenado with a pitch in the 8th inning. 

Things boiled over after he shoved Tomas Nido & the benches cleared. A bunch of Cardinals surrounded Alonso & St. Louis coach Stubby Clapp tackled Pete from behind, in a sucker move. 

Quotes- Pete Alonso: "I got pulled from behind. Actually, Genisis Cabrera grabbed me by the back collar & he just ripped down. Then the coach just kind of jumped on me & I thought that was kind of cheap. If you want to hold me back, is you want to restrain me, go at me like a man. I totally understand I'm a big guy, a big strong guy. Obviously, they don't know my temper. They don't know what I can do. If I wanted to put someone in the hospital, I easily could. I was just out there trying to protect my guys."

Mets Combined No Hitter: Pete closed out April with a solo HR in the April 29th, Mets combined no hitter of the Phillies at Citi Field.

 It was just the Mets second no-hitter in team history. Five Mets pitchers, Tylor Megill, Drew Smith, Joley Rodriguez, Seth Lugo & Edwin Diaz helped in accomplishing the no hitter.

Alonso finished the month with 4 HRs & 17 RBIs batting .250.

In the first game of a May 3rd double header, Alonso drove in his 19th & 20th runs of the year.
with RBI singles off the Braves Charlie Morton in a 5-4 Mets win over Atlanta at Citi Field. 

In the night cap he homered off Kyle Wright, helping the Mets in Carlos Carrasco's eight inning shutout 3-0 win.  Seth Lugo closed it out. 

On May 8th in Philadelphia, Alonso matched his season high five RBIs while hitting two HRs & collecting three hits. He now had seven HRs on the season with 26 league leading RBI's. On May 18th, he hit a three run HR, his 9th of the year, this one-off TJ McFarland in an 11-4 Max Scherzer win over the Cardinals.

Walk Off HR: The next day with the score tied 5-5 on the 10th inning, Alonso connected off Cardinal reliever Giovanny Gallegos for a walk off game winner, exciting the 28,801 Citi Field fans. 

On Sunday May 22nd, he & Francisco Lindor drove in the only two runs of a 2-0 Taijuan Walker win in Colorado. As the road trip moved to San Francisco, he hit a three run HR off Alex Cobb & collected three hits in the Mets 13-3 win in the first game of the series. He would add an RBI in the last game, in a losing effort.

On Friday May 27th, the Mets survived a six run Phillies 6th inning, taking an 8-6 win. Alonso
drove in four runs, as he hit his 12th HR, a two-run shot off Bailey Falter. 

He also hit his eighth double of the year & added a sac fly for his 45th RBI of the season. On May 30th he hit his 13th HR & drove in his 47th run of the year to stay atop the league leaders.

The Mets began June with a true test in their first-place ranking, as they played a big series in Los Angeles against the mighty Dodgers. After getting shut out in the first game, Alonso homered in the second game, although New York drooped that game as well. 

On June 4th, Alonso led the Mets to a 9-4 win over the Dodgers as he drove in five runs, matching his season high for the third time. 

Pete hit HRs off Walker Buehler, a two-run shot & a three run blast off Brusdar Graterol. 

Francisco Lindor added his 9th HR of the year as well & Eduardo Escobar hit his 4th in the Mets five HR thirteen hit attack.

The next night, the Mets were down 2-1 in the 8th inning when Alonso doubled off Graterol to tie the game, he would score the go-ahead run-on Eduardo Escobar's sac fly. The Mets went on to a 5-4 win, splitting the series. 

On June 6th, he was hit on the right hand in San Diego & had to leave the game. It was the seventh time he had gotten hit by a pitch & the Mets as a team were hit by more than anybody else by far. Pete was able to return after missing just one game.

As the West Coast Road trip continued, it took the Mets across to Orange County, Los Angeles where Alonso homered in two of the three games, as the Mets took another series.

Second Grand Slam: On June 17th, Alonso had another big night in a 10-4 win over the Marlins at Citi Field. In the Mets seven run 6th inning, Pete hit a grand slam HR off Tommy Nance, bringing in J.D. Davis, Starling Marte & Francisco Lindor. Pete now had 19 HRs & 63 RBIs.

Pete took a Citi Field curtain call, as the fans chanted "MVP-MVP-MVP".

Starting on June 20th, he drove in at least one run in three straight games, five of six. He also hit three HRs in that stretch including another multi HR game, his third of the first half of 2022 on June 25th, leading the Mets to a 5-3 win in Miami.

July began with his longest RBI drought of the season up to that point, as he went ten games without a HR or a run driven in. Although on July 6th, he had his only four hit day of the year, coming in the Mets 8-3 win in Cincinnati. In that game he hit his 13th double of the year.

On July 9th, Alonso broke his drought with a HR off Braxton Garrett of the Marlins, as the Mets won the game in the bottom of the 9th inning on a throwing error from pitcher Tanner Scott.

On July 11th, the Mets began a huge series in Atlanta with the red-hot Braves, who were now just one & a half games behind the Mets. 

In the first game, Max Scherzer making his second start after returning from his oblique injury, struck out nine Braves allowing one run in seven innings earning the win. 

Alonso drove in the first run of the game with a double off Max Fried & later his ground out scored Brandon Nimmo with the Mets fourth run in the 4-1 win. Although Alonso was shut down in the next two games, the Mets took two of three in the Braves home park sending a message & leaving in first place 2.5 games up.

On July 14th at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Alonso hit his 24th HR of the season & drove in his 74th run of the year. 

Record Tying Game: After a rain out the next day, the Mets played two on Saturday. 

Pete Alonso not only became the Mets all-time leader in RBIs in the first half of a season going into the break, but he also became the first player since Hank Aaron in 1956 (66 years) to drive in the winning runs in both ends of an extra inning double header.

In the first game, Alonso doubled to center off former Met Marcus Stroman, bringing in Francisco Lindor with the Mets first run his 75th RBI of the year. 

The RBI broke David Wright's 74 RBIs in 2006, which were the most ever by a Met going into the All-Star break.

In the 10th inning, with the score tied at one, Luis Guillorme on third & Lindor on second, Alonso hit a sac fly to right field, scoring Louie with what was to be the game winning run.

In the nightcap, Alonso went 0-4, but in the top of the 10th he came to bat with the bases loaded & no one out in a 2-2 tie. Pitcher Mychal Givens hit him with a pitch, that brough home what turned out to be the game winning run. The Mets scored another run on another Cubs error, for a 4-2 win.

Pete ended the first half of 2022 with 77 league leading RBI's, he also leads in sac flies with eight & intentional walks (7).  

He hit 24 HRs (3rd in the NL) was hit by nine pitches (5th in the NL) & was eighth in extra base hits (39).

Pete went to the 2022 All Star Game, making his second All Star appearance. He competed in the HR Derby once again, in which he won the previous two years.  

Trivia: No MLB player has had more HRs or driven as many runs as Pete Alonso since 2019.

The Mets went into the All-Star break 58-35 (.624%) 2.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves. The Mets would fall apart in the final weeks of the season, getting swept in a crucial series with the Braves in Atlanta. They did win 101 games but finished second due to their regular season record with the Braves. They lost to the hot San Diego Padres in the NLWC Series.

Pete Alonso ended the year leading the National League in in RBIs (131) while setting a Mets single season record.  He hit 40 HRs becoming the first Mets player to accomplish the feat twice. He also batted .271 with 27 doubles 95 runs scored & a .869 OPS.