TORONTO — Carlos Mendoza predicted an offensive breakthrough for the New York Mets. It just took an uncomfortably long time to happen on Wednesday afternoon.
Francisco Lindor and the Mets were on the verge of losing a series for the first time in a month and were down 0–2 when they managed to rally in the ninth inning and defeat the Blue Jays 6-2. With a game-tying home drive to right field to start the ninth inning, Lindor broke Bowden Francis’ no-hit attempt. It was a no-doubter to ruin the no-hitter.
Francis was removed from the game, and the Mets took advantage of Toronto’s weak bullpen to score six runs in the frame off of an infield single, an error, three walks, and a Francisco Alvarez laser beam off the batter’s eye in center field.
“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.”
NYM 6
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) September 11, 2024
TOR 2
Final
They had it the whole time.
The Mets are 80-66.
Perhaps Lindor’s most memorable home run was his 31st, and his 108th while wearing a Mets uniform. (Incidentally, the other contenders are most likely the three he hit against the Yankees three years prior, at the two teams’ commemoration of September 11’s twentieth anniversary.) The explosion on Wednesday was a campaign high point for an MVP.
What has Lindor meant to the Mets this season?
“Everything,” said starter Sean Manaea.
Lindor’s home run calmed down the Mets and set off the kind of ninth-inning explosion that Mendoza had anticipated.
“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.”
It takes more than one inning to quell worries about New York’s offensive hibernation. With Wednesday’s ninth run on Wednesday included, the Mets have scored 12 runs in the last 4 days. That ninth inning saw three extra-base hits for them; in the previous week and a half, they had only scored more in a single game once.
In September, the Mets as a team are hitting .217 with a .310 on-base percentage and .354 slugging percentage.
Regarding Francis’s “very good arm,” Mendoza was correct. A leadoff home run in the ninth inning has caused Francis to lose a no-hitter for the second time in his last four starts. In his last six starts, he has given up 13 hits with an average of.092.
The right-hander had the Mets looking quite hopeless for eight innings. Francis successfully used his four-seam fastball toward the top of the zone, inducing a half-dozen popups and plenty of harmless fly balls despite his decreased velocity and lack of strikeout stuff. The Jays were ready to make a play when the Mets struck the ball hard, as they did in a series of at-bats in the middle innings. Harrison Bader was robbed of extra bases in the first of the sixth inning by Davis Schneider’s diving grab at the left-field fence.
Fortunately, Manaea was able to basically maintain pace with Francis. In the fourth inning, the Blue Jays loaded the bases on two singles and a walk with no one out, setting up his toughest jam. With a popup, strikeout, and fielder’s choice, Manaea was able to limit the damage to one run and pitched into the seventh inning.
“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 Shōta 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)
