The Mets blew a nine-run lead, but Francisco Lindor saved the day with a two-run HR in the ninth inning to beat the Washington Nationals 11-9.
Here are some key takeaways …
1. Jonathan Villar led off the day with a single up the middle, and then moved to third on Brandon Nimmo‘s single to right field. Lindor pulled the ball through the hole to right, giving the Mets an early 1-0 lead. Pete Alonso swung on the first pitch he saw, driving a sacrifice fly to right field and putting them up 2-0.
2. In the top of the second inning, Javier Baez launched a solo home run to center field to put the Mets up 3-0. Jeff McNeil reached first on an error by Alcides Escobar, and then Patrick Mazeika reached on a fielder’s choice with McNeil advancing on a throwing error by Escobar. After Marcus Stroman‘s sacrifice bunt to move the runners over, Villar hit a soft grounder to the pitcher but Josh Bell didn’t cover first and McNeil scored to make it 4-0. Nimmo drove in another with an RBI single and Lindor put the Mets up 6-0 with a sacrifice fly to right field.
3. Nimmo exited the game before the bottom of the second inning with right hamstring tightness, as Albert Almora Jr. replaced him in center field.
4. Baez crushed another one to center field, as it hit off the top of the wall for an easy double in the top of the third inning. Baez moved to third on McNeil’s groundout and then scored on an RBI single from Mazeika to go up 7-0.
In the bottom half of the third, Bell hit a ground ball into the shift as Lindor flipped the ball to Villar at second — but he dropped it and Baez sprinted over to grab the ball and throw it to Stroman charging third base, as he made the catch and dove to tag Juan Soto out.
5. With one out in the top of the fourth inning, Michael Conforto hit a two-run homer to right field, putting the Mets up 9-0. After three straight singles in the bottom half, Stroman walked in a run to give the Nats their first run of the game, trailing 9-1. Lane Thomas drove in another run on a sacrifice fly to center field, and the next man up Escobar followed suit to make it 9-3.
6. Stroman’s day ended after 5.0 IP, allowing three earned runs on six hits with two strikeouts and three walks over 94 pitches.
7. Miguel Castro found himself in trouble in the sixth inning with the bases loaded after two errors by Lindor. Escobar then doubled down the left field line to make it a 9-5 game, and Brad Hand came in to make his Mets debut. Alonso mishandled Soto’s hard grounder and his toss went over Hand’s head, allowing two runs to score with the Nats trailing now 9-7. The Mets turned a clutch 5-4-3 double play to finally escape the inning.
8. Seth Lugo came in for the save, but let up a ground-rule double to Carter Kieboom and then a two-run homer to Andrew Stevenson. That tied the game up at 9-9 to force extra innings. Trevor May kept things tied and got out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth inning.
9. Lindor hit a leadoff two-run homer in the ninth inning, as the Mets went back up 11-9. It was HR No. 150 for Lindor’s career, becoming the sixth SS with 150 homers in their first seven seasons.
Highlights
What’s next
The Mets and Nats will play game two of their doubleheader on Saturday at 6:05 p.m. on SNY.
Tylor Megill will take the mound for the Mets, while Josh Rogers starts for Washington.