Often for the Mets, the first six innings of a game tend not to matter. It’s not as if the Mets are bad early in games. (They’re not.) It’s just that from the seventh inning onward, they turn into a juggernaut.

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Pete Alonso lofted the walk-off sacrifice fly Monday night for the New York Mets, who edged the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 in the opener of a three-game series.