SAN DIEGO -- Adversity comes in many forms. For a Mets team that had lost four straight games entering Tuesday night, it was not particularly difficult to find in the visiting dugout at Petco Park -- nor in the clubhouse, nor in the coaches’ room, nor anywhere else.\n\nAdversity seemed to surround everyone -- from
“That,” Alonso said, “was awesome.”\n\nOff the bat, the ball traveled 114.7 mph, destined for a spot 449 feet from home. It carried with it most of Alonso’s frustration from the previous night.\n\n“I blacked out for a little bit,” Alonso said. “I just remember touching home. I don’t even remember running the bases.”\n\nWhen he jogged back on the field for the bottom of the ninth, Alonso crossed paths with Padres star Manny Machado, who winked at him and said simply: “Is that all you got?”\n\n“I said it from the first day -- he’s a guy with a bright future ahead,” Mets teammate Robinson Cano said. “He’s so strong. And what I love about him, he works hard. … After what he did last night, I told him you never remember what happened last night. Just go out there and play your game. You know what? He went out and did really good.”
**2\\. Nimmo’s slump-buster** \nAfter a few hitless games, Nimmo said, he tends to become quite conscious of growing slumps. So by Tuesday, Nimmo was acutely aware that he was 0-for-26, struggling to hit balls with authority. He began taking pride in small victories -- grinding out a walk or hitting a line drive right at someone.\n\nStill, as the slump deepened, so did Nimmo’s mood. Long since dropped from leadoff to seventh in the Mets’ batting order, Nimmo grounded out in the first inning and struck out in the sixth to bloat his slump to 0-for-28. Only nine Mets in history have suffered longer streaks, with Rey Ordonez’s 37 straight hitless at-bats in 1997 the record for position players.\n\nThat sort of dubious history was weighing on Nimmo as he stepped to the plate in the seventh inning with two men on base and two outs. When Craig Stammen threw him a 92-mph sinker on the outside corner, Nimmo jumped at it, lacing it to left-center field for a game-tying single. Had anyone but Wilson Ramos been the trail runner, the hit likely would have plated two.\n\n“To be able to help the team out today and come through in that situation made me ecstatic,” Nimmo said. “I was really happy about that.”
**3\\. Diaz hits his spot** \nAfter Alonso’s homer, the Mets felt secure handing a two-run lead to well-rested closer