Francisco Lindor's walk-off single in three-run 10th caps Mets' wild win over Guardians
Francisco Lindor #12 of the Mets celebrates his tenth inning game winning single against the Cleveland Guardians at Citi Field on Friday, May 19, 2023. Credit: Jim McIsaac
If the Mets turn around their season, remember this as the week the magic came back to Citi Field.
They earned their second walk-off win of the homestand Friday night by beating the Guardians, 10-9, in 10 innings on a game-ending single by Francisco Lindor, who played against his former team for the first time.
Trailing 9-7 heading into the bottom of the 10th, the Mets rallied for three runs against closer Emmanuel Clase. Mark Vientos and Francisco Alvarez had run-scoring singles, with the latter tying the score — when the Mets were down to their final strike — to bring up Lindor.
The Mets (23-23) have won three consecutive games for the first time in a month, and all three have been of the comeback variety. They have shown shades of their 101-win selves from a season ago, stringing together a series of improbable events that, put together, yield an inevitable-feeling victory.
“It’s starting to feel like guys are expecting something good to happen,” Buck Showalter said.
Lindor said: “I wanted to win the game. A hundred percent, I wanted to win the game right there in that situation — and I wanted it to be me.”
The late dramatics began in the bottom of the seventh, when the Mets trailed by four and were facing a bullpen that ranks among baseball’s best.
No big deal for Pete Alonso, still fighting a cold, who homered in a career high-tying fourth consecutive game. His grand slam off James Karinchak drew the Mets even. That was his 71st homer at Citi Field, tying Lucas Duda for most in the stadium’s history.
Alonso more than made up for his flub in the bottom of the fifth, when he failed to run out a soft line drive that shortstop Amed Rosario dropped. Rosario — among those sent to Cleveland in that January 2021 landmark Lindor deal — threw Alonso out at first despite having to scramble for the ball.
In the ensuing moments, Alonso apologized to Showalter in the dugout for the lack of hustle.
“That was stupid on my part,” said Alonso, who hit a walk-off three-run homer Wednesday against the Rays. “It’s bad baseball. It was stupid. Very stupid of me.”
“I said, ‘You get a hall pass because of the way you play.’ That’s why it sticks out so much,” Showalter said.
Carlos Carrasco, also facing Cleveland for the first time since joining the Mets in the blockbuster trade, provided his old club a big early lead, allowing five runs in five innings in his first start back after spending a month on the injured list.
The Mets’ rookie trio played a major role with a combined five hits and four RBIs. Alvarez and Brett Baty started the comeback by homering off righthander Cal Quantrill (5 2⁄3 innings, three runs). Vientos and Alvarez came through again in the 10th.
Lindor dubbed them “the Baby Mets.”
“Without them, I don’t come up in the 10th and that doesn’t happen,” he said.
Alonso said: “They’re playing phenomenal right now. They fit right in. There’s no learning curve for these kids because they’re ready.”
Amid the high-scoring, back-and-forth mayhem, the minutia mattered.
Teammates granted Tommy Hunter the championship belt as pitcher of the game — his first such honor, he said, in three seasons with the Mets — after he recorded one out: the last of the top of the seventh, stranding the bases loaded, keeping the Mets within four and setting up Alonso’s blast.
Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Alonso made key defensive plays. Eduardo Escobar, entering as a pinch runner for Vientos in the 10th, stole his first base in more than two years, putting the eventual tying run in scoring position.
“It takes a lot of guts to do that,” Showalter said.
For another night, these Mets rediscovered the alchemy that made them so dangerous last year.
“After getting punched in the mouth, we’re finding an extra level, what it takes to win those really tight ballgames,” Alonso said.
Or as Showalter put it: “They’re just tired of losing.”
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
