Pete

Alonso

Alonso sparked a two-run rally with a leadoff double off of Max Fried in the fourth inning then scored on an RBI single off the bat of Leody Taveras. He hasn’t been quite as fearsome of an addition to the middle of the Orioles’ lineup as they would have hoped thus far, slashing a meager .214/.322/.421 with six homers and 15 RBI in his first 146 plate appearances.

Alonso homered for the second consecutive game in the series, taking Yankees southpaw Ryan Weathers deep in the fourth inning for a 413-foot no-doubter. It was his lone hit in four at-bats in the one-sided affair. The 31-year-old slugger has gone deep three times in his last five games and is up to six round-trippers on the year in his Orioles debut.

Basallo takes a seat as the Orioles deploy a righty-heavy lineup to face Yankees lefty Ryan Weathers. The 21-year-old rookie backstop has been locked in at the plate recently, hitting .283 (15-for-53) with four homers and eight RBI over his last 15 games. Adley Rutschman is behind the dish with Pete Alonso at DH and Coby Mayo at first base in this one.

Funny enough, on the first pitch back in the city where Alonso spent the first seven years of his MLB career, he smacked a home run over the right field fence. Of course, he’s more accustomed to Queens over the Bronx, but it’s ironic nonetheless. With that homerun, Alonso finally got himself over a .700 OPS as he tries to put this slow start to the season behind him.

Alonso, who just went 1-for-13 in the weekend series against the Red Sox, took Ryan Weiss deep in the fifth for his fourth homer of the year. He’s still batting just .198 for the season, but his hard-hit rate is considerably better than usual, and his 25 percent strikeout rate isn’t much of a problem. Even with the slow start, he’ll still probably get his 30 homers and 100 RBI this year.

The Orioles were down 7-1 through 5 1/2 innings, but then scored five times in the sixth, with an Alonso double starting the rally and Jeremiah Jackson’s grand slam concluding it. In the seventh, Alonso put the team ahead with a 399-foot homer off Jonathan Loáisiga. Alonso is 4-for-7 with three extra-base hits and no strikeouts the last two days, raising his OPS from .521 to .691.

Alonso worked a two-out walk off of Adrian Houser in the home half of the first inning then rode home on Samuel Basallo’s two-run blast. He then added to the O’s advantage with a two-run double off of Houser in the fifth inning that made it 4-1. He’s off to a slow start offensively with his new ballclub, slashing just .190/.288/.293 with one homer, five RBI and one stolen base.

Alonso and deGrom, obviously former Mets teammates, had a little interaction after Alonso’s single in the first, as deGrom made a pickoff throw that nearly hit Alonso while he wasn’t being held on (Jake Burger did scoot over to catch it). Alonso had the last laugh in the fourth, hitting a shot 400 feet to left center. He’s 6-for-19 for his new team.

The 31-year-old slugger went down on a swinging third strike against Luis Gil in the opening inning. He got revenge his next time up, crushing a ground-rule double (110.3 mph EV) in the fourth inning but the O’s couldn’t cash him in from there. He has had a solid spring in his first camp with the Orioles, hitting .271 (13-for-48) with a pair of homers, three RBI and even a stolen base.

The homer off Ryjeteri Merite was the third that Alonso has hit this spring, though it won’t count in his statistics. His 110-mph single was hit even harder than his 384-foot homer.