Francisco Lindor once again helps save Mets, ‘broken toe and all'

New York Times

14 hours ago

DENVER — Broken pinkie toe and all, Francisco Lindor jogged out from the dugout to join the rest of the New York Mets infield. As they waited near second base with arms over each other's backs, they left a spot open for him in their circle. It was only when Lindor finally reached them that they performed their postgame celebration.
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'I wanted to be there,' Lindor said.
He wasn't going to miss it.
His teammates weren't going to allow him to miss it.
Not after Lindor's latest heroics Friday night.
After sitting out Thursday's game and not starting Friday because of a broken pinkie toe, Lindor came off the bench in the ninth inning and delivered a go-ahead, two-run double to lift the Mets over the Colorado Rockies, 4-2.
MAN, WE LOVE FRANCISCO!!!
MAKE HIM AN ALL-STAR 🗳️👉 https://t.co/pvcqpJqQb7 pic.twitter.com/hcp23ZyoKI
— New York Mets (@Mets) June 7, 2025
'All-Star voting started, what, a couple days ago?' Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. 'Here he is, continuing to do what All-Stars do.'
Once again, Lindor helped save the Mets. The hit would deserve the status of 'signature moment' attached to it had Lindor not already created so many other bigger ones over the past couple of years. Think: his playoff heroics, the time he came off the bench and hit a walk-off while dealing with the flu — the list goes on. This one's importance ranks lower than most of those others, but don't sleep on it.
The Mets (40-24), one of MLB's best teams, were close to what would've been a miserable loss to one of the worst teams in the history of the sport through 64 games. And it would've been because of an inability to come through with runners in scoring position, their major season-long issue.
Heading into the ninth inning, the Mets were 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position. Pete Alonso supplied the lone hit with a two-run double in the seventh inning to give the Mets a one-run lead. Before Lindor's at-bat, the Mets had left 11 runners on base.
New York entered Friday's game with the third-worst batting average (.218) with runners in scoring position, ahead of only the Baltimore Orioles (.216), Rockies (.215) and Chicago White Sox (.210). And that's with Alonso carrying a .358 batting average with runners in scoring position on his own.
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For the Mets, one season-long concern looked better, but the other stalled. The Mets performed better defensively, which was their other issue, with Alonso (throwing home), third baseman Brett Baty (double-play liner) and Francisco Alvarez (pick and caught stealing) making important plays. Still, the problems with runners in scoring position persisted.
Mendoza said the Mets' at-bats with runners in scoring position 'weren't good.' In the sixth inning, they had the bases loaded with no outs and failed to score. Brett Baty struck out after two poor calls, but Alvarez and Ronny Mauricio also went down on strikes. From Mendoza's perspective, the Mets chased too often, took good pitches early in counts and then missed fastballs.
'That shows you we are in between when we are making decisions,' Mendoza said. 'We just gotta continue to work, grind through it, and we'll get better.'
In the meantime, the Mets relied on their three big stars: Alonso, Lindor and Juan Soto, who continued to look better at the plate and went 3-for-4 with a walk and got things going in the ninth with a one-out single. Alonso, who is red hot, followed with a walk. After Jeff McNeil flew out, Mendoza summoned Lindor off the bench.
Since the fifth inning, Lindor had stood in the dugout with a bat in his hand. Mendoza knew right before the game that Lindor would be available late. In a perfect situation, Lindor wouldn't have played at all Friday even though Mendoza revealed before the game there was a decent chance the star shortstop would be in the starting lineup Saturday or Sunday. But the Mets needed him Friday.
So when the eighth inning ended, Mendoza told Lindor that if Tyrone Taylor's spot popped up in the ninth inning, 'Be ready to go.' The move was always going to cost Mendoza two players because he was going to take Lindor out after an at-bat. That's how it played out, with Mendoza using Luisangel Acuña as a pinch runner for Lindor once the job was done.
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As Lindor busted it out of the batter's box, passed first base and turned the corner to head to second base, Mets first-base coach Antoan Richardson shouted at him, 'Stop! Stop! Stop!'
Richardson quickly learned something: Sometimes, there's just no stopping Lindor.
'Gotta love him,' Richardson said.
His teammates do.
'To see that at-bat happen,' said starter Kodai Senga, who threw a career-high 109 pitches in six innings, 'it just illustrates what type of person Francisco Lindor is. He's a leader. And he's just a superstar.'
'We are spoiled because, with him, you get a guy who is just willing to strap it on regardless of how he feels or regardless of how his health is,' Alonso said. 'I just have nothing but the most amount of respect. For me, knowing him, it's like, 'Of course. Of course he's going to do that.' But when you really take a step back, that's really special, having a teammate willing to put his body on the line every single day like that. It's a true pro, and he embodies that.'