Martinez, Lindor and Alonso rally Mets over skidding Diamondbacks 3-2

NEW YORK -- — J.D. Martinez hit a go-ahead, eighth-inning home run, Francisco Lindor had four hits and drove in the tying run after Pete Alonso doubled as a pinch hitter and the New York Mets kept up their domination of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Arizona ace Zac Gallen got hurt and left after his sixth pitch, forcing the NL champions to use relief pitchers for 24 outs. The Diamondbacks (25-31) then wasted a two-run lead and lost their fourth straight, matching their season high of six games under .500. Arizona has scored nine runs in its last six games.

“We did a great job of breaking the cycle of, obviously, the losing,” Alonso said. “And once you get out of that cycle, we can start to build day to day.”

New York (23-33) stopped a four-game losing streak and won for just the second time in 10 games. The Mets have won 20 of their last 24 games against the Diamondbacks, outscoring them 138-62, and 16 of their last 18 against Arizona at Citi Field.

Ketel Marte had a two-run double in the third off rookie Christian Scott, who allowed four hits in six innings.

Lindor hit a third-inning homer against Brandon Hughes and an RBI single in the seventh against Ryan Thompson (2-2) after Alonso doubled off Joe Mantiply in his first pinch-hit appearance since 2021. Alonso left Wednesday’s game when he was hit on the right hand by a pitch; scans were negative.

Thompson was ahead of Lindor 1-2 in the count.

“My thought process is I don’t throw a lot of sliders to lefties," Thompson said. “I was thinking he’s got to know that, that I don’t throw sliders to lefties, so I figured it was a good pitch in that situation. ... After throwing I think three straight sinkers to him, I was like, throw a slider here and maybe get back to the sinker, and I just threw a really bad one.”

Martinez homered in the eighth off Thompson, a drive that landed in the black batter’s eye beyond center field for his fourth home run this season. Martinez, a 36-year-old, six-time All-Star, played for the Diamondbacks in 2017.

Rookie Danny Young (2-0) pitched the eighth as the struggling Mets bullpen threw four hitless innings in relief of Scott. Reed Garrett got three outs for his third save after a leadoff walk in the ninth, finishing a four-hitter.

“They’re absorbing it right now, and it’s painful. It hurts,” Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo said. “It hurts a lot because we care, and I’m OK with that. But at some point we got to be able to cycle through and understand why we lost this baseball game. There were some things we did wrong, and we just got to find a way to make them right, and we’re going to be just fine.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Diamondbacks: SS Gerardo Perdomo, sidelined since April 3 by a torn right meniscus, is set to play his first rehab game Friday as a DH in Arizona Complex League. Perdomo and OF Alek Thomas, out since March 31 with a strained left hamstring, each had 10 at-bats during drills Wednesday. ... RHP Merrill Kelly (strained right shoulder) is to start a throwing program next week. ... RHP Miguel Castro (right shoulder inflammation) is throwing from 75 feet. ... Luis Frías (right shoulder inflammation) may pitch in an ACL game next week, possibly Tuesday.

Mets: C Francisco Alvarez (sprained left thumb) started a rehab assignment with Double-A Binghamton and hit a three-run homer in the second inning. He was 1 for 2 with a walk.

UP NEXT

LHP Jordan Montgomery (3-2, 4.69) starts for the Diamondbacks on Friday and RHP Luis Severino (2-2, 3.22) for the Mets.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb