Francisco Lindor's walk-off homer lifts Mets to 5-4 win over Cardinals

Francisco Lindor hit his first Mets walk-off home run in the team’s 5-4 win over the Cardinals at Citi Field on Friday night.

It was Lindor’s 250th career homer.

The Mets (13-7) have now won consecutive games after losing two stright for the first time this season.

Here are the takeaways…

-Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas held the Mets’ offense down for the first four innings, allowing just four baserunners in that span. However, the Mets’ bats woke up in the fifth with Brett Baty‘s leadoff double and Tyrone Taylor’s RBI triple. AfterLindor’s shallow fly ball failed to bring Taylor home, the Citi Field crowd gave Juan Soto a standing ovation in hopes of urging their new star to drive in the tying run. The left-hander slugger obliged, pulling a single into right field to tie the game, 2-2.

Soto snapped an 0-for-12 skid and finished 1-for-3 with a walk on the night.

-With the Mets down 3-2 in the sixth, Mark Vientos found the seats for the second straight night with a solo shot. He turned on the eighth pitch of the at-bat — a 95.4 mph fastball up and in — depositing it 371 feet into the left field seats. According to MLB’s Sarah Langs, Vientos’ home run came on a pitch 4.14 ft above the ground, which is the third-highest pitch a Mets player has homered on in the pitch-tracking era (2008), behind:

• 8/27/17 Amed Rosario: 4.17 ft
• 9/22/20 Robinson Cano: 4.16 ft

-The bottom of the eighth was a wild one. After Vientos’ leadoff single, Luisangel Acuña pinch-ran and stole second. Brandon Nimmo hit a chopper to third base and the young infielder tried to get a jump to third, but Nolan Arenado hadn’t thrown the ball to first yet and it created a foot race for third. Acuña initially beat the tag, but he slid off the bag and the Gold Glover put the tag on to get the first out, which was confirmed by replay.

With Nimmo on first, former Met reliever Phil Maton threw to keep the veteran outfielder on but it hit Nimmo, allowing him to get to second. Luis Torrens then made the Cardinals pay with a double down the left field line, giving the Mets their first lead of the night.

–David Peterson was effective on Friday night, but the Cardinals were able to use small ball to get to the talented lefty. Three singles, which were hit softly but not where fielders were, allowed the Cardinals to score the first run of the game in the second. They then pushed across another after Brendan Donovan took second on a passed ball. Jordan Walker then scorched a liner toward first base that Pete Alonso knocked down but trickled into the outfield.

Peterson would continue to overcome this scrappy Cardinals team and rack up the strikeouts, but St. Louis would push their third run across thanks to a leadoff double from Willson Contreras and a single by Arenado.

Carlos Mendoza pulled Peterson with one out in the sixth and called on Max Kranick to limit the damage. And as the right-hander had done for most of the season, he left ducks on the pond to keep the score 3-2.

Peterson was dominant in spurts, but the Cardinals were able to string hits together in three separate innings. The left-hander went 5.1 innings on a season-high 99 pitches, allowing three runs on seven hits with no walks and a season-high nine punchouts.

-With Edwin Diaz unavailable due to pitching consecutive games, Huascar Brazoban was called to get the final three outs, but on the second pitch, Donovan launched a game-tying homer off the netting on the right-field foul pole. Brazoban bounced back, however, striking out the next three batters to send it to the bottom of the ninth.

-Baty continued to look good at the plate, picking up his first walk of the season in his first at-bat and then swiping second for the third stolen base of his career. He doubled in his second at-bat and finished 1-for-3 with the walk and run scored.

Baty now has a five-game hitting streak.

-Nimmo hit in the No. 6 hole on Friday, his lowest place in the lineup since 2021. He looked good, too, despite his 1-for-4 night.

-After going hitless in Thursday’s series-opener — his last hitless game came on April 13 —Alonso got on the board with a first-inning triple. It was his first three-bagger since 2023. The slugger went 1-for-2 with two walks.

Game MVP: Francisco Lindor

In a back-and-forth affair, Lindor’s walk-off sent the crowd home happy and is the logical choice.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets and Cardinals continue their four-game set with an afternoon tilt on Saturday. First pitch is set for 4:05 p.m.

Kodai Senga (2-1, 1.06 ERA) will take the mound against Matthew Liberatore (1-1, 3.93 ERA) of the Cardinals.

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