Lindor walks it off with big fly in big Citi

Mets 5 Cardinals 4 (Citi Field, Flushing, NY)

Mets record: 13-7

Mets streak: Won 2

L10: 6-4

WP - Huascar Brazobán (1-0)

LP - Ryan Fernandez (0-2)

Seat on the Korner: Francisco Lindor

We select the star of the game and virtually invite him to a Seat on the Korner, just as Ralph Kiner used to do for his studio postgame show on WOR-channel 9 broadcasts in the early decades of the Mets.

Ralph would have loved the chance to talk hitting with Francisco Lindor, who made some history with his walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to secure the Mets' 5-4 victory. Lindor has been swinging a better bat after a bit of a slow start, hitting .311 over the last 15 games and .333 over the last seven. He was 0-for-4 as he led off the ninth against reliever Ryan Fernandez. But, as he did so many times last season, Lindor came through, jumping on a 1-1 pitch and driving it into the Coca-Cola Corner. It was the 250th home run of Lindor's career, the fifth most by a big-league shortstop and placing him 19th among active players, and the first walk-off homer by Lindor as a Met.

Need to Know

• With his one-out single in the second inning, the Cardinals' Brendan Donovan stretched his hitting streak to 14 games — the longest active streak in the majors — and would score the game's first run.

• The Mets' Brett Baty drew his first walk of the season leading off the third inning, and promptly stole second for his first steal of the season — the third of his career.

• David Peterson threw a season-high 99 pitches through 5.1 innings, giving up three runs.

• Mark Vientos homered for the second straight game. On Thursday, the Mets third baseman hit his first homer since Sept. 27 of last season, a span of 77 games. On Friday, he belted one over the left-field fence leading off the sixth to tie the game at 3-3.

• Cardinals reliever Phil Maton, who had his moments out of the Mets bullpen during the stretch drive in 2024 but failed miserably in the postseason, was brought on to face Starling Marte with two on and two out in the Mets' seventh and got him to pop harmlessly to center.

• Luisangel Acuña pinch ran for Mark Vientos, who led off the Mets' eighth with a single, and promptly swiped second, his sixth steal of the season. But Acuña tried to take third on a Brandon Nimmo's grounder to third and was tagged out by Nolan Arenado when he overslid the base.

• With Edwin Dîaz having pitched in two straight games, Huascar Brazobán got the save opportunity and gave up a game-tying homer to Donovan, the NL's leading hitter, to blow the lead. Brazobán has given up two earned runs this season, both on home runs. However, Brazobán kept his composure and struck out the next three batters, keeping the score tied and setting up Lindor's game-winner.

  
  

Turning Point

In the fifth inning, coming up with the Mets down 2-1 and a chance to tie the game with Tyronne Taylor on third, Francisco Lindor hit a shallow fly ball to right. Fortunately, Juan Soto picked him up with an RBI single. But when Lindor got a second chance to come up big, leading off the ninth inning of a 4-4 game against Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez, he launched a 1-1 pitch into the upper deck in right field to send the Mets' portion of the nearly 40,000 fans into a frenzy and earn himself a Gatorade bath. Lindor said he knew it was out "as soon as I hit it — I hit it with everything I had." Mets manager Carlos Mendoza, very familiar with Lindor heroics, said afterward, "That's why he's an elite player, a special player. The moment is never too big for him. He lives for those moments."

Three Keys

A standing O — and Soto delivers

Not-yet-in-a-groove Juan Soto received a standing ovation from Mets fans when he came to bat with a runner on third and one out in the fifth, with the Mets down a run, and rewarded the faithful with a line-drive single to right field to drive in the tying run, making the score 2-2.

Max effort returns

Mets reliever Max Kranick bounced back from a shaky last appearance in Minnesota. Replacing David Peterson with one out and a runner on second in the sixth, after Peterson had given up the go-ahead run, Kranick got Jordan Walker to pop to third and blew strike three past Thomas Saggese to end the threat. Kranick then pitched a 1-2-3 seventh, lowering his season ERA to 1.35 and WHIP to 0.45.

Torrens ties it

On another night, Luis Torrens might have gotten the Kiner's Korner nod. The Mets' catcher, getting more playing time than he probably figured with Francisco Alvarez on the injured list, has been an asset both defensively and at the plate and came through once again. With one out in the eighth and Brandon Nimmo on second, Torrens turned around a hanger from Cardinals reliever Phil Maton and ripped it down the left-field line for a double that put the Mets ahead and put himself in line to be the hero had Brazobán been able to hold the lead.