Canning and Mets beat Dodgers 6-1 behind Alonso's 2 homers and 5 RBIs

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pete Alonso homered twice and drove in five runs, Griffin Canning held baseball’s best offense scoreless for six innings and the New York Mets defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-1 on Wednesday night.

After the teams split a pair of 10-inning games to begin the series, the Mets took a 3-0 lead in the first when Alonso launched a two-run shot. They didn't score again until his three-run drive in the eighth, when Alonso hammered his 14th homer of the season 447 feet to nearly the top of the left-field pavilion.

Canning (6-2) allowed three hits, struck out seven and walked one for his first win since May 5 at Arizona.

Dodgers starter Tony Gonsolin hit Francisco Lindor with a pitch to open the game. Brandon Nimmo grounded into a fielder's choice to second, and Lindor was safe at third on Kiké Hernández’s error. Nimmo stole second and Lindor scored on Juan Soto's RBI groundout before Alonso went deep.

Andy Pages' homer off Ryne Stanek in the ninth accounted for the Dodgers' lone run.

Los Angeles put runners on first and second with one out in the seventh against José Castillo. Pages doubled and Castillo grazed Michael Conforto with a pitch. But then Dalton Rushing and Hernández went down swinging to end the threat.

Gonsolin (3-2) gave up three runs — two earned — and three hits in five innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked three.

A bare-chested man ran out of the lower left-field seats during Starling Marte's at-bat in the eighth. He sprinted into center field chased by security before being pushed to the ground on the warning track in left. He was hauled off through the center field gates after a brief delay.

The Dodgers' No. 2 through 5 hitters were a combined 0 for 15 with a walk.

Mets LHP David Peterson (4-2, 2.69 ERA) starts Thursday's series finale against RHP Landon Knack (3-2, 4.58).

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

New York Mets' Juan Soto takes a close pitch during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, right, jumps after taking a strike as New York Mets catcher Luis Torrens kneels at the plate during the fifth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

New York Mets' Pete Alonso, right, scores after hitting a two-run home run as Brandon Nimmo waits for him while Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing kneels at the plate during the first inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

New York Mets starting pitcher Griffin Canning throws to the plate during the first inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

New York Mets' Pete Alonso, right, hits a three-run home run as Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing watches during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, June 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. flu infections showed signs of a slight decline last week, but health officials say it is not clear that this severe flu season has peaked.

New government data posted Friday — for flu activity through last week — showed declines in medical office visits due to flu-like illness and in the number of states reporting high flu activity.

However, some measures show this season is already surpassing the flu epidemic of last winter, one of the harshest in recent history. And experts believe there is more suffering ahead.

“This is going to be a long, hard flu season,” New York State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, in a statement Friday.

One type of flu virus, called A H3N2, historically has caused the most hospitalizations and deaths in older people. So far this season, that is the type most frequently reported. Even more concerning, more than 91% of the H3N2 infections analyzed were a new version — known as the subclade K variant — that differs from the strain in this year’s flu shots.

The last flu season saw the highest overall flu hospitalization rate since the H1N1 flu pandemic 15 years ago. And child flu deaths reached 289, the worst recorded for any U.S. flu season this century — including that H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic of 2009-2010.

So far this season, there have been at least 15 million flu illnesses and 180,000 hospitalizations, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates. It also estimates there have been 7,400 deaths, including the deaths of at least 17 children.

Last week, 44 states reported high flu activity, down slightly from the week before. However, flu deaths and hospitalizations rose.

Determining exactly how flu season is going can be particularly tricky around the holidays. Schools are closed, and many people are traveling. Some people may be less likely to see a doctor, deciding to just suffer at home. Others may be more likely to go.

Also, some seasons see a surge in cases, then a decline, and then a second surge.

For years, federal health officials joined doctors' groups in recommending that everyone 6 months and older get an annual influenza vaccine. The shots may not prevent all symptoms but can prevent many infections from becoming severe, experts say.

But federal health officials on Monday announced they will no longer recommend flu vaccinations for U.S. children, saying it is a decision parents and patients should make in consultation with their doctors.

“I can’t begin to express how concerned we are about the future health of the children in this country, who already have been unnecessarily dying from the flu — a vaccine preventable disease,” said Michele Slafkosky, executive director of an advocacy organization called Families Fighting Flu.

“Now, with added confusion for parents and health care providers about childhood vaccines, I fear that flu seasons to come could be even more deadly for our youngest and most vulnerable," she said in a statement.

Flu is just one of a group of viruses that tend to strike more often in the winter. Hospitalizations from COVID-19 and RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, also have been rising in recent weeks — though were not diagnosed nearly as often as flu infections, according to other federal data.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - Pharmacy manager Aylen Amestoy administers a patient with a seasonal flu vaccine at a CVS Pharmacy in Miami, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)