ATLANTA — Amed Rosario’s strong finish to last season could be explained as a previously struggling player fattening up in garbage time.
Either that or Rosario actually improved.
The Mets shortstop continues to state his case for the latter. On Thursday he delivered one big hit and another smaller contribution, carrying the lineup from the No. 7 hole.
Rosario drove in four runs, Pete Alonso unleashed a Ruthian blast and Steven Matz was strong for six innings against the Braves in the Mets’ 6-3 victory at SunTrust Park.
“I think this lineup is actually very interesting,” Rosario said. “And if we maintain the hitting the way that we are, I think we’ll be in it down the road.”
The Mets won their second straight, opening a 10-game road trip against playoff contenders with a beatdown of the defending NL East champions.
Rosario smashed a three-run homer in the second inning against Kevin Gausman before delivering an RBI single in the sixth. In the seventh, Alonso crushed a 454-foot shot against Jonny Venters into a pond behind the center-field fence for his sixth homer of the season. The blast registered 118.3 mph off the bat, according to MLB Statcast. Only Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have hit harder balls for homers in the Statcast era, which began in 2015.
“I’ve got to do a couple of more push-ups,” Alonso said.
In Rosario and Alonso, the Mets have two homegrown players that could serve as long-term focal points in the lineup.
“They are going to be cornerstones,” manager Mickey Callaway said. “We have a few of them that go out there every day and were raised the Mets way and are playing the game the right way, so it’s fun to watch and have young players contribute. If you are going to be a good team you have to have young players performing.”
Despite disappointing overall numbers for the Mets last season — he posted a .676 OPS — Rosario was respectable over his final 50 games with a plate appearance, hitting .294 with five homers. And he has started this season by reaching base in 11-of-12 games.
Matz (1-0) lasted six innings and surrendered two earned runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and one walk. It came after the lefty produced five shutout innings in his previous start, against the Nationals on Saturday.
Luis Avilan surrendered a solo homer to Ronald Acuna Jr., in the eighth after Robert Gsellman had escaped trouble the previous inning. Jeurys Familia finished the eighth before Edwin Diaz earned his fifth save with a scoreless ninth.
The Mets were 6-13 against the Braves last season, and Callaway noted the importance of improvement against them in 2019.
“We did struggle against them and had some crazy games where they came back and won on some crazy stuff,” Callaway said. “They took care of us last year and we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again.We have to play better against them and make sure we get the job done and not overlook them.”
Rosario extended the Mets’ lead to 4-2 in the sixth by slapping a single to right field for his fourth RBI of the game.
Rosario’s first home run of the season, a three-run blast in the second, gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Michael Conforto and Wilson Ramos walked in succession to start the inning, and with one out Rosario blasted an 0-1 fastball over the fence in deep right-center.
Rosario credited his willingness to drive the ball to the opposite field for his early success.
“I think it’s helped me 100 percent,” Rosario said. “It’s helped me with my approach and also helped me to let the ball get in a little deeper to lay off bad pitches and also to drive the ball the other way.”
The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the first, after Brandon Nimmo whiffed trying to catch Freddie Freeman’s fly ball as he moved toward the left-field corner. Acuna, followed with a shot to deep center that hit off the top of Juan Lagares’ glove for a triple.
“We catch both of those balls 99 percent of the time,” Callaway said. “We just didn’t catch them that inning.”