The Mets were on the verge of another loss as part of a historically bad start to the season.
And then Pete Alonso awakened a sleeping offense by slamming his second homer of the season to lead off the bottom of the ninth and tie the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader against Detroit.
It sparked a game-winning rally that was finished by Tyrone Taylor, who drove in Brett Baty with a one-out single after Starling Marte’s sacrifice bunt to give the Mets a 2-1 win and a split of the doubleheader.
The victory meant the Mets avoided falling to 0-6 for the first time since 1963, their second year of existence.
The win was also the first for new manager Carlos Mendoza.
The ninth-inning rally came from an offense that had been alarmingly quiet for much of the afternoon.
After getting out to a 3-0 lead in the first game, the Mets didn’t get another hit for the rest of a 6-3, 11-inning loss.
Then they followed it up by being no-hit by Detroit right-hander Matt Manning for 5 ⅔ innings before he was removed and they didn’t get their first hit until Harrison Bader looped a single into left field to lead off the bottom of the eighth.
Now, they head on the road, where they play the Reds Friday.
Even with the win, they need to get the lineup going.
While Brandon Nimmo at least got on base multiple times in each game, he still has just one hit on the season.
The same goes for No. 2 hitter, Francisco Lindor, who only got on base thanks to getting hit by a pitch in the third inning of the first game and is 1-for-24 on the season.
But they got a terrific outing by Jose Butto in the second game.
Brought up to the major league roster as the 27th man for the doubleheader, Butto overcame some wildness in the first two innings- when he allowed a run in the second- to pitch six innings, giving some relief to an undermanned and overworked bullpen.
The much-needed win came at the start of a stretch of 15 games in 14 days.
“It’s baseball,’’ Adrian Houser said after giving up one run in five-plus innings in the opener, his first start as a Met. “You’re gonna go through it. Some teams go on a losing skid in the middle of the year. We’re just starting off on the wrong foot. We’re not playing terribly. It’s part of the journey. It’s gonna be a roller coaster. Who knows? Two weeks from now [we could have] a 10 or 11-game winning streak.”
They seemed to be in a good position to get that first win in Game 1, when they went up 3-0, sparked by a two-run Francisco Alvarez double.
But the lead was cut to one before Adam Ottavino gave up a game-tying homer to Riley Greene in the eighth and the Mets squandered a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, when Alvarez hit into an inning-ending double play with two on.
The Mets bullpen faltered in the 11th, as Michael Tonkin allowed a go-ahead RBI double to Colt Keith with one out for Detroit’s first lead of the day and then a two-run single to ex-Yankee Gio Urshela.
The Mets didn’t answer in the bottom of the inning.
Lindor drew a two-out walk to bring up Pete Alonso with two on and Alonso struck out to end it.
The Mets had Brandon Nimmo and Pete Alonso on first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth, when Alvarez grounded into a double play.
And Brett Baty was asked to bunt to open the bottom of the 10th to get the free runner over, but struck out.
Asked before the game about how the first week on the job has gone, which featured a lot of rain and losses, new manager Carlos Mendoza said, “Not the way I anticipated, to be honest with you. We’ve been through a lot, especially in the first series… You’ve just got to keep going, prepare and lean on the guys and coaches. We’ll get through it.”
