Francisco Lindor, Francisco Alvarez's ‘unreal’ caught stealing helps Mets close out win over Diamondbacks

Francisco Lindor and Francisco Alvarez had their hands all over the Mets’ series opening victory in Arizona on Monday night. 

With the Mets leading by just one run in the top of the seventh, Alvarez led off the inning by busting it down the line to reach on an infield single — he then hustled his way into scoring position on a Tyrone Taylor double. 

A few pitches later, Lindor demolished a three-run homer into the seats in right-center to provide New York with some insurance. 

And it certainly was needed, as Dedniel Núñez entered in the eighth and struggled in his season debut — walking the bases loaded before being pulled for Reed Garrett, who allowed all three runners to score but limited the damage. 

Edwin Diaz then came on in the ninth looking to close out a one-run ballgame. 

The star closer allowed speedster Alex Thomas to reach on an infield single leading off the inning — and he immediately looked to advance his way into scoring position, but the Francisco duo had other plans. 

Alvarez unleaded an absolute strike to Lindor, who made a tremendous short-hop pick and somehow nipped Thomas’ left shoe with the tag — eliminating the baserunner after a review for a massive first out of the inning. 

“Just unreal,” Carlos Mendoza said. “Not an easy one overall. For Alvy not giving up after the runner gets a huge jump and for him just to finish the play, and then Lindor not only picking the baseball but sticking his nose in and applying the tag there — pretty unbelievable.”

For Lindor, we’ve grown accustomed to seeing him come through with these types of heroics. 

But for the youngster Alvarez, it was a massive play at a massive time — and Lindor was sure to give him credit, immediately pointing to him after he put together the fastest pop time on a throw to 2B in his career (H/T Sarah Langs).

“He’s been working at that for a while now,” Lindor said. “Him and [Glenn] Sherlock and [Luis] Torrens have been putting in the work and emphasizing the throws to be in that area. He wanted it — you can tell he wanted to throw him out and I love that. 

“Defense wins ballgames. Defensive is a good way to be in the playoffs, so stuff like this gets me very excited.” 

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