Mets catcher Francisco Alvarez salivates for big moments

NEW YORK (AP) — Francisco Alvarez salivates for big moments.

“He’s almost foaming at the mouth to get up there,” New York Mets teammate Brandon Nimmo said. “The way that he walks around the batter’s box, the mannerisms, the body language when he’s up there and he takes a swing and steps back out, it just tells me he wants that moment and he wants to take it head on.”

A starting catcher in his first pennant race at age 22, Alvarez hit a second-inning homer and a two-run double in a three-run seventh that lifted New York over the Philadelphia Phillies 6-3 on Saturday. The Mets remained two games in front of Atlanta for the third and final NL wild-card berth.

Alvarez has five home runs in his last eight starts after hitting two in his previous 45. He has four three-RBI games in September.

“He’s been working really hard behind the scenes for months and finally he’s paying off,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “This is a guy that when it was really hard for him, he was the first guy on the field, whether it was at home, on road trips, hitting on the field, hitting in the cages, watching film, talking to coaches. So I don’t think this is an overnight thing.”

Less than two years after his big league debut on Sept. 30, 2022, Alvarez has been a key to the Mets' surge. They have won 17 of their last 22 games and are 64-36 following a 22-33 start that left them six games back of a wild card on May 29.

Alvarez approaches games with intensity. He has “THE BEST” tattooed in red capital letters under his Adam's apple and before each game has crosshatched eye black on each cheek instead of the horizontal strip most players prefer. He began the supersized smudges last year as a way to tell himself to switch onto competitive mode.

“This is something I have to do before the game,” he said. “I feel like I'm locked in.”

Alvarez is hitting .238 with 11 homers and 44 RBIs in 94 games.

“He’s invaluable not just for what he does on the field, but that persona he brings and that penchant to want the big moment,” Nimmo said.

After Kyle Schwarber opened the game with his record 15th leadoff home run this season, Alvarez tied the score in the second with a 113.8 mph drive for his 11th home run and fifth in nine games. His 37 home runs before age 23 tied Iván Rodríguez for second-most among catchers behind Johnny Bench's 87, according to Major League Baseball.

Nimmo's seventh-inning RBI single put the Mets ahead 3-2 and Alvarez reached for a sweeper from Orion Kerkering at the bottom of the strike zone and with one hand on his bat lofted a flyball. It dropped just beyond the glove of left fielder Weston Wilson, who tried for a diving catch in left-center.

Alvarez pulled into second base standing up and raised both arms in triumph.

“I feel very good,” he said. “I feel more powerful, like last year when I was doing good.”

A crowd of 44,152 filled Citi Field, just the fourth sellout this season after opening day and a pair of Subway Series games against the Yankees. Sunday's finale of the four-game series is the Mets' final home game of the regular season before a trip to Atlanta and Milwaukee.

“We expect to be back here this year and play more games here,” Mendoza said.

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

Ronald Blum, The Associated Press