The Mets' Pete Alonso delivered a heroic homer after a teammate called the shot

MILWAUKEE – In the chaos of euphoria, the New York Mets momentarily let the star of the celebration go Thursday night.

Quickly, someone shouted, “Where's Pete?”

The search lasts mere moments.

“There she is!” someone else yelled.

Another Mets player then loudly ordered: “Everybody attack Pete!”

Within seconds, several Mets players poured their champagne bottles over Pete Alonso. “Pit! Pit! Pete!” They chanted.

Alonso savored the moment. Holding a can of beer in one hand and a bottle of champagne in the other, he wrapped his arms around Jose Iglesias and hugged him in a bear hug.

In the hug, Iglesias told Alonso, “Thank you for listening.”

The second baseman was referring to the message he delivered just before the eighth inning. That's when Iglesias, from his position at second base, told Alonso, “Next inning, you're going to hit a home run.”

What happened next is already written in Mets lore. In the ninth inning of Game 3 of the Wild Card Series, the Mets are down by two runs. With one out, they had runners on first and third. Alonso stepped up to the plate with a week's layoff. He hit a three-run home run off Devin Williams of the Milwaukee Brewers to save the Mets' season and send New York to the Division Series.

“It was meant to be,” Iglesias said after the 4-2 victory. “I've seen walk-offs and stuff, but this is one of my happiest moments. It's a dream come true.”

Throughout the day, Iglesias, one of the leaders in the Mets clubhouse whose catchy chant “OMG” turned into a season rally cry, encouraged Alonso.

“He was feeling a little down,” Iglesias said. “I just told him, be on time. Timing is everything.' And now? Man, I feel so proud of him.”

Later, in a rare moment on the field when he couldn't draw the crowd, Alonso said Iglesias' simple but consistent message, “means a lot. Really, a lot. It means a lot to me.”

For a while, the Mets had to come through Alonso. big time His walking year was devoid of special moments. But club officials always said the same thing, that with his ability he could change a game in an instant. Still, his last extra-base hit was on September 19. Before the home run, Alonso was 0-for-3 with a strikeout in the seventh inning. no matter He still believed.

In the seventh inning, Alonso used a relaxed tone when he told Mets co-hitting coach Eric Chavez, “I'm just swinging through these pitches. I feel like I belong right there. A swing away.”

“He was calmer than I was,” Chavez said, recalling the conversation.

Players often say things like this to coaches, so Chavez didn't know exactly how to interpret the message. He noticed at least one thing, though, that he would later say would be important. Alonso, despite the slump and heaviness of his Mets career that likely ended Thursday night, remains positive.

On a 3-1 offering from Williams, Alonso sent a changeup that found the plate 367 feet over the right field wall. He said he knew right away it was a home run. At first base, Brandon Nimmo said he wasn't too sure. After all, the Mets didn't hit a home run in the first two games of the series. So, Nimmo said he just hoped the ball would go over an outfielder's head. But Alonso kept running towards Nimmo. So Nimmo took one more look at the outfield, and thought to himself, “Oh my God.”

By the time Alonso reached second base, nearly all of the Mets' players had left the dugout.

“Words can't explain,” Alonso said. “It's unreal.”

Mets owner Steve Cohen tried to form a few sentences.

“Great players, they come through in the clutch, don't they?” Cohen said. “An incredible moment for him, for the team.”

The Mets went too far without Alonso on his back. If he stays hot, the Mets are more dangerous heading into Saturday afternoon's matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Before the game, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza reiterated his faith in Alonso, saying, “We're waiting for that one swing. Hopefully today is the day.”

Well worth the wait.

“Proud of him,” Mendoza said after the match. “It's a dream come true for him and for all of us.”

Seven minutes after the Mets took the lead, and as the team celebrated on the field, the fan section behind New York's dugout at American Family Field began chanting, “Pete A-lon- so! Pit A-lon-so!“

It's now a name etched deep into Mets playoff history.

(Top photo by Pete Alonso: Credit: Benny Siu/Imagon Images)