Baseball-Mets hero Alonso savors dream return to Queens after free agency drama

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By Amy Tennery

NEW YORK (Reuters) – First baseman Pete Alonso reminded the Mets – again – of his worth on Friday with his third home run in four games as New York beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-0 in their home opener.

The four-time All-Star knocked a two-run homer over the right field wall in his first at-bat of the season in Queens to deafening cheers from the fans, a sweet return to Citi Field after his future with the team had once appeared in doubt.

“That type of stuff is what you dream about as a kid,” said Alonso, who also hit a grand slam in Monday’s 10-4 win over the Miami Marlins. “To have that type of support being reciprocated, it’s really special, for sure.”

It was a different scene in January, when the beloved fan favorite was locked in prickly negotiations with the team’s billionaire owner Steve Cohen and looked as though he could be on his way out in free agency.

“Personally, this has been an exhausting conversation and negotiation,” Cohen told fans at a team event at the time. “I’m being brutally honest. I don’t like the negotiations.”

Less than three weeks later, the Mets announced they had re-signed the twice Home Run Derby winner, and those icy winter negotiations thawed as Alonso recorded 10 RBI in the first seven games of the season.

He was hailed as a hero in New York on Friday as fans gave him a standing ovation before his first at-bat and stayed on their feet as they watched the ball sail over right field.

“For him to go out there, first at-bat, and go all the way kind of set the tone right away,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza told reporters.

“After the off-season with all the rumors and all that is a pretty cool feeling for him, for all of us.”

Asked if he had wondered what it would be like had Alonso not been in the lineup, manager Mendoza smiled: “I’m glad I don’t have to think about that,” he said.

(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Ken Ferris)