Francisco Lindor’s walk-off home run off Ryan Fernandez gave the New York Mets a 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Citi Field on Friday night.
Fernandez left a cutter up in the strike zone, and Lindor teed off on it for the first walk-off homer in his five seasons with the Mets and the 250th of this career. With the win, New York maintains its one-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East.
St. Louis tied the game in the top of the ninth with Brendan Donovan hitting a home run against Huascar Brazobán to lead off the inning. However, Brazobán struck out the next three batters to set up Lindor’s walk-off heroics.
The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead on a Pedro Pagés RBI single in the second inning and Jordan Walker driving in a run in the fourth. But the Mets rallied to tie the score in the fifth on a run-scoring triple from Tyrone Taylor, followed by Juan Soto driving him in with a single.
Both teams traded runs in the sixth, with Nolan Arenado driving in a run for St. Louis, and Mark Vientos hitting a solo homer for a 3-3 tie. The Mets took a 4-3 lead in the eighth on an RBI double by Luis Torrens after Brandon Nimmo reached base on a fielder’s choice.
Neither starting pitcher was particularly sharp. David Peterson gave up three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings, though he notched nine strikeouts for the Mets. On the St. Louis side, Miles Mikolas allowed two runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings. Brazobán got the win, while Fernandez took the loss.
A defeat could have dropped the Mets into a first-place tie after the Phillies beat the Miami Marlins, 7-2, earlier in the evening. But the win boosted New York to 13-7 and a one-game lead. Philadelphia is just behind the Mets at 12-8.
Kodai Senga (2-1, 1.06 ERA) gets the start Saturday for the Mets, while the Cardinals counter with Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 3.93 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 4:05 p.m. ET.
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