Lindor, McNeil Power Mets to 6-4 Win Over Marlins

The Mets (51-48) entered Monday’s action looking to split their series with the pesty Marlins (35-65), who took two of the first three games of the series. David Peterson (5-0, 3.14 ERA) and Yonny Chirinos (0-2, 6.30 ERA) took the mound and for the eighth consecutive Peterson start, the Mets were victorious with a 6-4 win.

After his two home runs on Friday, Jeff McNeil was an offensive force yet again, driving in three of the Mets’ six runs. He got the scoring started with a two-run blast in the second inning, sending a first-pitch fastball into the second deck in right field for his third home run of the series.

The Marlins recovered a run in the bottom of the inning, though they did so in controversial fashion. Vidal Bruján sent a fly ball to right field that appeared to land foul, but the first base umpire called it fair. Bruján drove in the runner from second and was thrown out trying to stretch a triple, but the run scored, nonetheless. DJ Stewart in right field appeared to believe the ball landed foul, but the Mets did not challenge the call.

McNeil again provided a run for the Mets with a sacrifice fly after Jose Iglesias led off the fourth inning with a triple, his first since joining the Mets and his first since the 2021 season. That put the Mets back in front by two before Francisco Lindor homered off the facing of the second deck in right field to give the Mets a 4-1 lead.

The Mets extended the lead yet again in the fifth after Jose Iglesias got hit by a pitch with the bases load, but Josh Bell immediately cut the Marlins deficit back to three with a solo homer to left field in the bottom of the inning.

Peterson exited the game after allowing two runs in five innings, though he allowed 11 batters to reach base. Because of the constant traffic, Peterson’s pitch count was elevated, which led to José Buttó entering the game to start the sixth.

Buttó pitched two innings of one-run ball, allowing a solo shot off the bat of Bryan De La Cruz before Phil Maton was summoned to pitch the eighth inning of a two-run game. Maton threw a perfect inning prior to Francisco Lindor socking his second home run of the game in the top of the ninth, this time to the opposite field in left. That gave the Mets a big insurance run for Edwin Díaz, who was called upon to pitch the bottom of the ninth.

Díaz allowed the tying run to come to the plate by allowing a single and a walk after a strikeout to the leadoff batter. Bryan De La Cruz then reached on an infield single on a play that Díaz should have easily made before a fielder’s choice brought a run home and put the tying runs on second and third with two out. Facing Jake Burger, Díaz induced a weak pop-up that Jeff McNeil caught to end the game and give the Mets a series split.

With the win, the Mets improve to 51-48 and will head into Tuesday with at least shared possession of the final Wild Card spot.

Despite the win, the Mets left a lot of meat on the bone as the team’s struggles with runners on base and especially runners in scoring position continued. The Mets stranded two runners in each of the first two innings and scored just one run with the bases loaded and nobody out in the fifth. In total, the team went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine runners on base.

Stat of the Game: Climbing Up the Leaderboard

With his two home runs, Francisco Lindor surpassed Curtis Granderson and Bobby Bonilla on the Mets’ all-time home runs leaderboard to move into 18th place. Lindor is now eight home runs away from cracking the Top 15 15 and 28 home runs away from joining the Top 10 in Mets history.

Player of the Game

Francisco Lindor’s two home runs were the difference in this game as the Mets wound up winning by just two. The home runs were Lindor’s 18th and 19th of the season, and he needs just one more to clinch a 20-homer, 20-stolen base season. Lindor continues to mash since slotting into the leadoff spot and he now sports a .799 OPS on the year.

On Deck

The Mets head up to the Bronx for the second edition of the Subway Series. 

Jose Quintana (4-6, 4.13 ERA) will take the mound for the Mets while Luis Gil (10-5, 3.17 ERA) will go for the Yankees. Quintana has succeeded in his career against the Yankees, recording a 2.97 ERA in eight appearances against them. Gil has made just one start against the Mets and that came earlier this year. He got roughed up for five runs in 4 1/3 innings.

First pitch will be at 7:05 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on PIX11 and TBS.

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