Mets are seeing the Francisco Alvarez effect first hand: ‘Been a force’

DENVER — Francisco Alvarez can rest on Monday.

As much as manager Buck Showalter might have been tempted to rest the rookie catcher in a matinee on Sunday following a night game, removing the torrid Alvarez from the Mets lineup wasn’t an option.

Alvarez delivered yet again, with his second three-run homer in as many days, in the Mets’ 11-10 loss to the Rockies at Coors Field. Alvarez’s blast was his seventh in his last 15 games and three came on this road trip.

“It could have been a tough day for him today, but nobody told him he was supposed to be tired,” Showalter said. “I don’t want to get too descriptive, but he’s been a force.”

Alvarez, who has eliminated any doubt lately over who should receive the majority of reps behind the plate even when Omar Narvaez returns from the injured list (likely in early June), owns a .315/.383/.778 slash line over his past 15 games.

Alvarez’s three-run homer in the fourth inning gave the Mets a 6-2 lead. After the Mets fell into an 11-7 hole, he came to the plate with two runners on base in the eighth, but hit into a double play. Alvarez’s grounder against Daniel Bard that was gloved by shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, left the bat at 109.9 mph.

“He keeps doing things like that and he’s really going to help our offense out and you have already seen it,” Brandon Nimmo said. “You have already seen it. We produce more runs when he is in the lineup and doing what he does.”

Jeff McNeil was absent from the starting lineup to rest his right groin, which he said he tweaked in his final at-bat in Friday’s game. McNeil entered Sunday’s game as a pinch hitter in the ninth and delivered a single. His expectation is he will return to the starting lineup for the start of the homestand on Tuesday against the Phillies.

The Mets lost both their series on this road trip after splitting four games against the Nationals to conclude their previous one. The Mets haven’t won a road series since winning two of three games at Dodger Stadium April 17-19.