Oakland A’s pitcher Norge Ruiz rubs up the new baseball after delivering a home run ball to the New York Mets Pete Alonso who is in the background rounding the bases in the top of the fourth inning at the Oakland Coliseum on Sun Sep 25, 2022 (AP News photo)

By Jerry Feitelberg

New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso took advantage of Oakland A’s pitching hitting for a home run, a double and five RBIs for a new Mets record. Mets pitcher Max Scherzer threw for six innings giving up just four hits and one run and struck out seven.

The Mets are now just a 1.5 in front of the Atlanta Braves for first place in the NL East. The Mets are rolling they have won eight of the last ten games. The Braves will host the Mets next week for a three game series and the battle for first place could boil down to those three games.

Alonso’s five RBIs pushed him to first past former Mets catcher Mike Piazza (1999) and David Wright (2008) who each had 124 RBIs. The home run by Alonso was his 39th of the 2022 season and Alonso even hit a home run on Saturday even though the Mets got walloped in that game 10-4. Sunday’s home run was Alonso’s second home in two straight games.

Alsonso said after the game that it was an honor to surpass Piazza and Wright for the team RBI record. Alonso got a two homer in the top of the fourth and got three RBIs in the top of the eighth and he shared credit saying he couldn’t do it without his teammates.

The A’s head to Anaheim in hopes to win a series at the Big A on Tuesday as they will start James Kaprielian (4-9, 4.43) and for the Angels Patrick Sandoval (6-3, 3.01) first pitch 6:38 pm PDT.