TORONTO — Carlos Mendoza predicted an offensive breakthrough for the New York Mets. It just took an uncomfortably long time to happen on Wednesday afternoon.
Backs against the wall, about to lose a series for the first time in a month and get no-hit in the process, Francisco Lindor and the Mets finally fought back in the ninth inning to steal a 6-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Lindor ended Bowden Francis’ no-hit bid with a game-tying home run to right field leading off the ninth inning — a no-doubter to halt the no-hitter.
With Francis out of the game, the Mets pounced on Toronto’s porous bullpen, turning an infield single, an error, three walks and a Francisco Alvarez laser beam off the batter’s eye in center field into a six-run frame.
“I don’t quantify how big hits are, but it felt really good,” said Lindor. “I could tell the vibes in the dugout shifted.”
“You could feel it,” Mendoza said. “Everybody was jumping and screaming.”
THAT SEEMED PRETTY VALUABLE@Lindor12BC | #LGM pic.twitter.com/CRRB1g7aMq
— New York Mets (@Mets) September 11, 2024
Lindor’s 31st homer, and his 108th in a Mets uniform, is perhaps his most memorable. (Serendipitously, the other candidates are probably the three he hit against the New York Yankees three years ago, when the two clubs were honoring the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11.) Wednesday’s blast was a signature moment in an MVP campaign.
What has Lindor meant to the Mets this season?
“Everything,” said starter Sean Manaea.
Lindor’s homer helped relax the Mets and spark that ninth-inning breakout — the kind that Mendoza thought before the game was coming.
“Right now, we’ve got a few guys going through it. It happens, it’s part of 162,” he said. “I’m pretty confident that today we’ll break out, even though we’re facing a pretty good arm.”
One inning does not allay all the concerns about New York’s offensive slumber. Over the last four days, even counting Wednesday’s ninth, the Mets have scored a total of 12 runs. They had three extra-base hits in that ninth inning; only once in the last week and a half had they collected more in an entire game.
In September, the Mets as a team are hitting .217 with a .310 on-base percentage and .354 slugging percentage.
Mendoza was right about that “pretty good arm” in Francis. It’s the second time in four starts that Francis has lost a no-hitter because of a leadoff homer in the ninth. Over his past six starts, he’s allowed 13 hits and an .092 average.
For eight innings, the Mets had looked largely helpless against the right-hander. Despite diminished velocity and a lack of strikeout stuff, Francis induced a half-dozen popups and plenty of innocuous fly balls, effectively deploying his four-seam fastball at the top of the zone. When the Mets hit the ball hard, like they did in a run of at-bats in the middle innings, the Jays were there to make a play. Davis Schneider’s leaping grab at the left-field fence robbed Harrison Bader of extra bases to lead off the sixth.
Fortunately, Manaea was able to mostly keep pace with Francis. His biggest jam came in the fourth when the Blue Jays loaded the bases with nobody out on two singles and a walk. Manaea limited the damage to a single run with a fielder’s choice, strikeout and popup, and he ended up pitching into the seventh.
“He just continued to make pitches,” Mendoza said. “He kept us there.”
New York moved to 21-8 in games Manaea has started this season. Only the Cubs behind Shota Imanaga have won as many games behind a single starting pitcher this season.
The Mets get Thursday off before kicking off 13 consecutive games inside the NL East. That starts Friday at first-place Philadelphia.
“We definitely feel good,” said Mendoza. “We know what’s ahead of us.”
(Photo of Francisco Lindor: Nick Turchiaro / USA Today)
