Francisco Lindor rescued the Mets from what would have been an Amazin’ choke job.
Lindor smacked a two-run homer in the second extra frame to lift the Mets over the Nationals, 11-9, in the opening game of a day-night doubleheader and avoid what would have been the greatest collapse in franchise history.
The Mets blew a nine-run lead against a Nats team that had tossed in the towel long ago this season. The Mets had never blown a nine-run lead. Ever. Lindor made sure this one didn’t end in a horrifying loss for a team that needs every win it can get.
Andrew Stevenson’s two-run homer off Seth Lugo in the bottom of the seventh sent this wild affair to extra innings.
Luis Rojas had handed a 9-3 lead to his bullpen in the sixth inning and that’s when these Mets turned back into the Mess.
The Nats plated four runs against relievers Miguel Castro and Brad Hand to cut the deficit to two. Three errors didn’t help. Hand, who the Mets picked up off waivers from the Blue Jays on Thursday, gave up two straight hits in his team debut after Castro couldn’t get the job done. But the lefty got Ryan Zimmerman to hit into an inning-ending double play to temporarily stop the bleeding.
But Washington wasn’t ready to move on to the second game of the twinbill just yet. After Carter Kieboom hit a ground-rule double off Seth Lugo in the seventh, Andrew Stevenson stepped up and parked a two-run homer in the stands to send the game into extra innings.
After Lindor’s heroics, Heath Hembree closed the door in the ninth to end the four-hour drama.
Even though it was a bit of a horror show, the Mets continued to pile up wins against the dregs of the NL East. After going 2-11 against the Dodgers and Giants — and seemingly blowing any shot of playing into October in the process — the Mets have now won six straight (seven if you include Tuesday’s win over the Marlins in the suspended game) and find themselves still very much in the conversation for both the division crown and the wild card.
They are even back above .500 (68-67) for the first time since Aug. 18.
And after Saturday, they still have five more games against the Nationals and Marlins on this road trip before returning to Queens next weekend to host the Yankees.
This one appeared over before most fans even had a chance to get the mustard on their hot dogs in our nation’s capital. Three straight hits to open the game — Jonathan Villar, Brandon Nimmo and Lindor — led to a quick 2-0 lead. Four more runs were added in the second, highlighted by Javy Baez’s 406-foot shot to center to lead off the inning.
Nationals skipper Davey Martinez — who underwent a minor foot procedure earlier in the week — hobbled off on crutches after being tossed early on for arguing balls and strikes. It was that kind of start to the day for the home team.
Marcus Stroman, who didn’t need his best stuff to keep these Nats at bay early on, added to his defensive highlight reel in the third inning when he teamed up with Baez to nab Juan Soto trying to take an unoccupied third base. He ran into problems in the fourth, but by that point he had nine runs to work with.
Stroman settled down for a 1-2-3 fifth and ended up giving up three runs on six hits over 94 pitches with three walks and two strikeouts on the afternoon.
The game not only cost the Mets a few blood pressure points, but the team lost Nimmo to injury. He was forced out of the game in the second inning with right hamstring tightness suffered while running the bases.
