Alonso maintains power surge for St. Lucie

Peter Alonso offered a rather succinct assessment of his most recent hot streak.
"It looks like a beach ball up there, to be honest." he said.
The Mets No. 8 prospect clubbed a pair of solo homers Thursday -- his fourth and fifth in the last five games -- as Class A Advanced St. Lucie fell to Jupiter, 10-2, at First Data Field. 

Alonso began by lifting a solo shot to left field in the second inning off Hammerheads starter Jeff Brigham. The Marlins No. 17 prospect had struck out the 22-year-old out twice in two at-bats when they last faced off on July 10, and Alonso found that instructive.
Gameday box score
"He threw me a first-pitch fastball," he said. "He's a really good pitcher and he had my number when we were at their place a week or so ago. I wanted to kind of look at it again and see what type of action he had on his fastball. Then the second pitch was a fastball. I wanted that pitch and I drove it."
After grounding out to first base in the fourth, Alonso went yard again on a 2-1 pitch from Brigham in the sixth. Once again, he made an adjustment after the righty got the best of him.
"My second at-bat, he got me pretty good on three sliders," he explained. "So he threw me a couple sliders and tried to get me to chase. Then he tried to bust me inside a little with the fastball to try and get me off it. He came back in again with a fastball and I drove it. It was kind of like a cat-and-mouse game."
Over the past five games, the 2016 second-rounder has gone 8-for-19 (.421) with nine RBIs to raise his slash line to .261/.327/.521.
Alonso suffered a broken hand early in the season and got off to a difficult start. He went 4-for-21 in six games in April before a 1-for-19 skid over five games in May.
"After being hurt and rehabbing, my timing just went away," the 6-foot-3, 225-pound first baseman said. "Timing is very hard to keep and very easy to lose, especially if you spend some time away."
Things have turned around since the second half got underway. While Alonso batted .187 with three homers and 10 RBIs over 25 games in the first half, he has hit .330 with nine homers and 28 RBIs in 26 games since.

"I spent a lot of time in the cage working with Chad [Kreuter], my manager, and Luis [Natera], our hitting coach," the University of Florida product said. "We developed a routine and a plan. They told me it's not an overnight process where you're going to see the results in [a short time].
"It's all coming together and I'm extremely comfortable in the box. I have a plan based on who is on the mound for the [opponent]. It's awesome that I'm comfortable and confident enough to be able to execute my plan."
Mason Davis also found success at the plate Thursday for Jupiter, collecting a career-high five hits in six at-bats. The 24-year-old Marlins infield prospect doubled in the third, fifth and eighth and added singles in the seventh and ninth.
• Get tickets to a Mets game
After spending parts of the last four seasons with Class A Greensboro, Davis was promoted to the Hammerheads on June 26. The 2014 19th-round pick sports a .354/.432/.492 slash line in 17 Florida State League games with 10 hits in 18 at-bats over his last four contests.
Mets starter Nabil Crismatt (4-8) took the loss after surrendering four runs -- two earned -- on seven hits and one walk with eight strikeouts over five innings.
Brigham (4-2) yielded two runs on seven hits and one walk in six frames.