Lindor’s Dramatic Grand Slam Sends Mets to California

Up 2-1 in the Divisional Series, the Mets hosted the Philadelphia Phillies for Game 4 on Wednesday night. Jose Quintana for the Mets dueled Ranger Suarez and the Phillies for the first five innings. A run-scoring fielder’s choice in the fourth inning from Alec Bohm gave the Phillies their only run. Ranger Suarez bent but never broke, allowing nine baserunners over his 4 ⅓ innings of work, striking out eight. Quintana ended up working five innings allowing just an unearned run, striking out six.

Quintana’s clutch start paved the way for the Mets to take a late lead. “It was a masterclass in just pitching,” fellow Met pitcher Ryne Stanek said. Mendoza spoke on his outing after the game as well, admiring his aggressive mindset. “He was in the zone, trusting his stuff,” the first year manager explained. Quintana walked two batters early on but then he “just went with it and fixed it.” The strong outing built on Quintana’s incredible final month of the regular season, in which he started four times for a total of 25 innings, three wins, 23 strikeouts and an E.R.A. of 0.72.

Jose Quintana didn’t allow an earned run over five innings of work. (Source: AP)

After a sixth inning where Quintana, Reed Garrett and David Peterson combined to work around two Phillies baserunners, the Mets hitters at the bottom of the order finally got to star reliever Jeff Hoffman in the bottom of the inning. J.D. Martinez led off the inning with a base-hit up the middle. Starling Marte and Tyrone Taylor followed with a hit-by-pitch and a walk, respectively.

After Francisco Alvarez hit into a force out at home, Phillies manager Rob Thomson pulled Hoffman, who was responsible for all three runners on base, for closer Carlos Estévez. Estévez had been acquired at the deadline from the Angels and was dominant as a late inning reliever for the Phillies. In 21 innings, he pitched to a 2.57 E.R.A. with six saves.

The first batter he faced with one out and the bases loaded was star shortstop Francisco Lindor. Lindor, only 6-25 with no home runs and seven strikeouts in the postseason so far, worked a 2-1 count on Estévez. He then took a 99.4 MPH fastball on the outer half and flied it deep towards the gap in right-centerfield, having just enough carry to sail into the bullpen.

Francisco Lindor rounds first base after giving the Mets a 4-1 lead in the sixth. (Source: Brad Penner)

The 398-foot grand slam turned the game around for the Mets. The four runs were enough, as David Peterson stayed in for another six outs to earn the win. Edwin Diaz came in for the save, and was shaky for the first two batters, J.T. Realmuto and Bryson Stott, whom he walked. A mound visit from former-Met and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner settled Diaz down, and he then recovered to strike out Kody Clemens, retire Brandon Marsh and strike out Kyle Schwarber on a 101.1 MPH four-seam fastball on the outside corner, his fastest pitch of the season.

Edwin Diaz celebrates after retiring Kyle Schwarber to clinch the series (Source: NY Post)

After having been sitting at 22-33 at the end of May, the Mets had the best record for the rest of the season, going 67-40. As award-winning announcer Gary Cohen said when they clinched the playoffs, the Mets went “from 0-5 to OMG.” The series win over the Phillies gave the Mets their first clinch in history at Citi Field and their NLCS appearance since they beat the Dodgers in 2015.

Starting the postseason as the lowest seed in the NL, no one expected two series wins from the Mets. Even though Lindor had the big home run, Mark Vientos was the key to the Mets’ success against the Phillies. Few people expected him to have such a breakout campaign in the regular season, but his series against the Phillies was one of the best postseason series a Met has ever had. Vientos went 9-16 through the four games, a .563 average, with two doubles, two home runs, two RBIs and an OPS of 1.674.