Sept. 20—Francisco Lindor hasn’t missed a game in more than five months this season.
The New York Mets posted the team’s most impressive three-game offensive performance in less than a week without Lindor: 30 runs.
The Mets will stay hot Friday night when they host the Philadelphia Phillies in the second game of a four-game series between the National League East rivals.
David Peterson (9-2, 2.85 ERA) will start for the Mets against left-hander Christopher Sanchez (10-9, 3.24).
The Mets continued to surge ahead Thursday night as Brandon Nimmo hit a game-winning home run in the third inning and drove in three runs to win 10–6.
The win moved the Mets (85–68) into a tie with the Arizona Diamondbacks for the final two wild-card spots in the National League, two games ahead of the Atlanta Braves. Winning the season series, New York defeated the Diamondbacks in the final.
The Mets have won their last four games despite Lindor being out with back pain. Lindor appeared in New York’s first 147 games before exiting last Saturday’s 6-4 loss to the Phillies. He returned to action Sunday but lasted just one inning before leaving in a 2-1 loss.
The Mets beat the Washington Nationals 2-1 in 10 innings on Monday night, but have scored 10 runs in each of their last three games, the first consecutive run deficits in franchise history.
Nimmo, Pete Alonso, Francisco Alvarez and rookie Luis Angel Acuna have each hit two home runs in the past three games. In the Mets’ first 14 games this month, Nimmo, Alonso and Alvarez combined to hit only five home runs. This week’s round-trip game was Acuna’s first in the majors, having been recalled after Lindor’s injury.
“We said it: guys go down, but guys keep moving up,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “That’s what we’ve seen the last couple of days. Every night feels like a different person.”
The Phillies (91-62) entered Thursday up three games but missed a chance to clinch a playoff spot as their magic number to lock up the NL East remains just four games away.
Trea Turner briefly tied the game with a two-run homer in the third inning, and the Phillies scored the tying run in the fourth, then put the Mets away with three runs in the seventh. The team’s lead grew to 9-6.
But Philadelphia nearly pulled off an even bigger blow. Kyle Schwarber’s hard-hit, bases-loaded grounder forced two batters to score before Bryce Harper hit a two-run double-single.
“We had a great inning,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I really thought we would come back and win that game.”
Peterson and Sanchez will start against each other for the second time in a row. Despite strong performances on Sunday, with Peterson allowing one run in 7 2/3 innings and Sanchez allowing one run in seven innings, neither pitcher played a role in the decision.
Peterson, 29, is 1-2 with a 4.57 ERA in nine career games (eight starts) against the Phillies. Sanchez, 27, is 1-2 with a 3.62 ERA in eight games (five starts) against the Mets, including a 0-0 record with an ERA under .20 in two starts this season. The points allowed rate is 2.84.
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