Alonso doubles and scores tying run after escaping injury when struck by Paxton pitch

NEW YORK (AP) — Mets star Pete Alonso doubled as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning and scored the tying run on Francisco Lindor’s fourth hit of the game against Arizona on Thursday, a day after was struck on the right hand by a 93 mph fastball from Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher James Paxton.

Alonso was hit on the middle knuckle Wednesday and left the game. He said an X-ray and bone scan on Wednesday night and an MRI on Thursday didn’t detect any breaks.

“I really feel like I got lucky and dodged a bullet, so I’m just really happy that it’s just going to be day to day,” Alonso said before Thursday’s game.

Alonso said swelling remained.

He pinch hit with one out in the seventh inning against left-hander Joe Mantiply with the Mets trailing 2-1. Alonso doubled down the left-field line in his first pinch-hit appearance since 2021, improving to 2 for 9 as a pinch hitter in his big league career. Lindor, who homered in the third inning, singled with two outs.

Alonso went to first base in the eighth inning.

A three-time All-Star, Alonso has been hit by pitches 76 times over six major league seasons. Getting hit on a hand is worrisome.

“Every time it happens, it’s really different because there’s a bunch of small bones, tissue, ligaments and nerves and stuff,” he said. “As it happens, it all hurts and you really don’t know until what the imaging tells you.”

In his last season before free-agent eligibility, the 29-year-old Alonso is hitting .235 with 12 homers and 26 RBIs. Alonso set a rookie record of 53 home runs in 2019, when he was voted NL Rookie of the Year. He has a .249 career average with 204 homers and 524 RBIs.

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