By MIKE FITZPATRICK
NEW YORK (AP) — Not easy to knock out these New York Mets.
Pete Alonso golfed an early three-run homer and the Mets hammered an ineffective Jack Flaherty, extending the National League Championship Series with a 12-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 5 on Friday.
“We understood that this is a do-or-die game and we have to give everything we had, and that’s what we did,” shortstop Francisco Lindor said.
Starling Marte had three doubles, four hits and three RBIs for New York. Francisco Alvarez broke out of a slump with three hits — including an RBI single in a five-run third inning.
Jesse Winker laced an RBI triple and so did Lindor, feeling good vibes after The Temptations performed his cheery walk-up song, “My Girl,” on the field before the game.
“We showed up today. We needed that,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “Obviously, Pete setting the tone in the first inning was important. We just continued to add on.”
Blown out in three of the first four games, including the past two nights at home, the wild-card Mets saved their thrilling season for the second time in these playoffs — both with the help of a three-run shot by Alonso. They trimmed their series deficit to 3-2 and sent the best-of-seven NLCS back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Sunday.
“After yesterday’s game, we just had a collective conversation where it was like, hey, this is it,” Alonso said. “This is who we are. This is the situation we’re in and let’s keep continuing to lay it all out there.”
Sean Manaea is lined up to start Sunday for New York on five days’ rest, while the Dodgers will go with another bullpen game because of a thin rotation decimated by injuries.
“We come from a lot of adversity,” Mets closer Edwin Díaz said. “We can beat them.”
With an opportunity to pitch his hometown team into the World Series, an ailing Flaherty flopped. After throwing seven shutout innings of two-hit ball in a Game 1 win, he fell behind 3-0 four batters in when Alonso launched a low slider 432 feet to center field for his fourth homer this postseason.
“He wasn’t sharp, clearly. He’s been fighting something. He’s been under the weather a little bit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said about Flaherty. “So I don’t know if that bled into the stuff, the velocity. I’m not sure.”
Alonso, poised to become a prized free agent this fall, also hit a go-ahead shot with the Mets facing elimination in Game 3 of their Wild Card Series at Milwaukee. That one was more dramatic, coming with New York trailing 2-0 and down to its final two outs in the ninth.
But once again, Alonso went deep to help prolong his tenure with a Mets team that drafted him in 2016. The ball was just more than a foot above the ground when he connected, the second-lowest pitch Alonso has homered on in his career.
“For the rest of us mortals, we fly out. But for him, it’s just an absolute bomb. Just normal Pete,” teammate Brandon Nimmo said.
The slugger also scored four runs and fought back from an 0-2 count to draw a leadoff walk in the third, when the Mets batted around and opened an 8-1 cushion.
“He got us going,” Mendoza said. “I thought that Pete did a really good job controlling the strike zone today.”
Aware it could be the last home game for Alonso at Citi Field, the sellout crowd of 43,841 chanted his name when he batted in the eighth.
“It’s so special. It’s like storybook-type stuff,” Alonso said. “When you grow up as a kid, you dream about that type of stuff.”
Flaherty allowed eight runs and eight hits in three innings. He failed to strike out a batter for the first time since a September 2022 game with St. Louis against Pittsburgh.
After striking out 12 times Thursday night, the Mets did not whiff once. They became the first team to do that in the postseason since the Angels in Game 2 of the 2002 World Series against San Francisco.
“We didn’t chase his secondary pitches,” Mendoza said, referring to Flaherty. “We know he’s got that slider and the knuckle curve, and he’s going to try to make us chase and we didn’t do that today. And when he came in the zone with his fastball, we were ready. And that’s the key.”
New York starter David Peterson pitched out of serious trouble in the first — aided by a baserunning mistake from Shohei Ohtani — but was unable to make it through the fourth despite being given a seven-run lead. Reed Garrett entered with the bases loaded and threw a called third strike past Freddie Freeman on a full-count sweeper to end the inning.
Dodgers rookie Andy Pages homered twice and drove in four runs. Mookie Betts went deep for the second consecutive game, helping Los Angeles cut an eight-run deficit to 10-6.
“It was good to see our guys fight back,” Roberts said. “Certainly, offensively we’re in a really good spot.”
But then Ryne Stanek and Díaz settled things down as the Mets put this one away. Stanek worked a career-high 2 1/3 innings for the victory, and Díaz got six outs without permitting a run.
“I’m just so happy because this group is so special,” Alonso said. “And I’m happy that we get to live to fight another day and play another game of baseball together.”
To rally and take the NL pennant, though, the Mets will need two more wins in LA.
“It’s definitely possible and I think if any team can do it, we can,” Nimmo said. “We’ve played with our backs against the wall the whole year and we’ve been able to rise to the occasion and some might even say we’re at our best at that time. So if anybody can do it, we can do it.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Dodgers: Freeman went 0 for 5 with two strikeouts in the cleanup spot, returning to the lineup after sitting out Thursday with a badly sprained right ankle that’s caused him to miss two games this postseason. Roberts indicated the All-Star first baseman might not start in Game 6 against Manaea, a nasty left-hander.
“I’m going to have a conversation with him tomorrow,” Roberts said. “But I do think that his swing is not right. I’m certain it’s the ankle. We’ll have that conversation, but it’s certainly an option to not have him in there for Game 6.”
Mets: Jeff McNeil had two sacrifice flies in his first playoff start, replacing slumping Jose Iglesias at second base. McNeil was added to the roster for the NLCS — he had been sidelined since Sept. 6 by a broken right wrist — and was hitless in three pinch-hitting appearances before Friday.
UP NEXT
Manaea (12-6, 3.47 ERA) is 2-0 with 2.65 ERA in three playoff starts, including a Game 2 victory at Dodger Stadium.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb