Francisco Lindor hit a towering two-run homer down the right field line in the ninth inning and the visiting New York Mets, despite blowing a 9-0 lead, pulled out a wild 11-9 victory over the Washington Nationals in the first game of a day-night doubleheader on Saturday afternoon.
Lindor, who finished 3-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored, hit a 2-1 pitch from reliever Kyle Finnegan (4-6) into the second deck leading off the ninth to drive in designated runner Albert Almora Jr.
It was the sixth straight victory for the Mets (68-67) who closed to within 3 1/2 games of first-place Atlanta, pending the night games, in the National League East. Trevor May (7-2), who pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the eighth, picked up the win while Heath Hembree notched his ninth save.
Jorge Baez homered and doubled and Michael Conforto also homered as the Mets jumped out to their nine-run advantage in the first four innings. Jonathan Villar went 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored and Brandon Nimmo also had two hits before departing in the second inning with right hamstring tightness for New York.
Andrew Stevenson hit a game-tying two-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to cap Washington’s comeback. Alcides Escobar doubled and drove in three runs, Carter Kieboom had three hits and three runs scored and Luis Garcia and Lane Thomas each added two hits for Washington (55-79) which lost its seventh straight game.
The Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first with three straight singles by Villar, Nimmo and Lindor to start the game followed by a sacrifice fly by Pete Alonso.
New York extended the lead to 6-0 in the second. Baez led off with his 27th homer of the season. Villar and Nimmo added RBI singles while Lindor had a sacrifice fly.
Patrick Mazeika made it 7-0 in the third with an RBI single, driving in Baez who had doubled off the wall in left center. Conforto upped the lead to 9-0 in the fourth with his 11th home run of the season, a two-run shot into the second deck down the right field line.
Washington cut it to 9-3 in the bottom of the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Stevenson and back-to-back sacrifice flies by Thomas and Escobar. The Nationals then closed to within 9-7 with four runs in the sixth, taking advantage of three New York errors in the process, and highlighted by a two-run double by Escobar.
The Nationals then tied it in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out, two-run homer by Stevenson off reliever Seth Lugo, a 402-foot drive to right that drove in Kieboom who had hit a ground-rule double.
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–Field Level Media