NEW YORK — As Francisco Lindor stepped in in opposition to Phillies reliever Carlos Estévez with the bases loaded, one out, and the Mets down a run within the sixth inning, the Citi Discipline followers had been nonetheless singing his walk-up track:
When it’s chilly exterior, I’ve obtained the month of Might.
The Mets shortstop referred to as time, retreated, and regrouped. The singing continued.
I assume you’d say,
What could make me really feel this fashion?
My lady, my lady, my lady
Talkin’ ‘bout my lady, my lady
They punctuated their candy serenade with three letters, shouted repeatedly in succession. “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”
Lindor returned to the batter’s field, tapped the skin fringe of the plate, then the within one. Now, he was prepared to interrupt the sport open.
With the rely 2-1, Estévez reared again and delivered his fourth straight fastball, a 99-mph belt-high heater over the outer third of the plate. Lindor unloaded. His easy lefty stroke smacked the projectile flush, piercing it into the right-center discipline hole at 109.5 mph. It sailed over the wall and into the Phillies’ bullpen for a grand slam.
Off the bat, it was clear that Lindor’s bullet within the hole would give his crew the lead, however then it simply stored going and going. Kinda like his crew. The grand slam propelled the Mets to a 4-1 win in Recreation 4 of the Nationwide League Division Collection on Wednesday night time and assured that their inconceivable postseason push would proceed for at the least one other spherical.
The house run was the proper encapsulation of those Mets throughout their rip-roaring final two weeks. It was concurrently unimaginable and inevitable.
“The entire time the inning is unfolding, [I’m thinking] Lindor goes to do it once more,” stated supervisor Carlos Mendoza. “There’s no panic. The best way he controls the feelings and he hits that ball. It’s unbelievable.”
The Mets actually didn’t make issues straightforward. They loaded the bases in every of the primary two innings in opposition to Phillies starter Ranger Suárez however didn’t capitalize.
With one out within the first, Mark Vientos hammered a 2-2 sinker that leaked again over the plate into the left-center hole for a double. Brandon Nimmo then walked to carry up Pete Alonso, who labored the rely full earlier than grounding a dribbler to 3rd base. Alec Bohm fielded it, and reached to attempt to tag Vientos working by him, however Vientos averted it; the tried tag not solely value Bohm time, but it surely additionally brought about him to bobble the change. By the point he recovered and fired throughout the diamond, Alonso was making his closing lunge towards the bottom. Initially referred to as out, the Mets challenged, and the decision on the sphere was overturned: Alonso beat the throw to the bag. Someway, Alonso was credited with an infield single on the play.
It appeared like Suárez would unravel proper then and there, however he buckled down. He struck out Jose Iglesias with a three-pitch, curveball-changeup-curveball sequence after which whiffed J.D. Martinez with extra comfortable stuff. After 30 nerve-racking pitches, Suárez escaped unscathed.
One of many large questions coming into Recreation 4 was which model of Suárez the Phillies would get: Wouldn’t it be the pitcher who led the majors with a 1.83 ERA over the primary three months of the season, or the one whose stuff was so diminished over his closing 11 begins that opposing hitters mixed for a similar OPS that Fred McGriff had throughout his Corridor of Fame profession?
Seems, he was a mix of each. He clearly didn’t have his finest stuff or command; his curveball was the one pitch in his arsenal that was working. However oh, it was working. He leaned on it within the second inning to get out of one other bases-loaded jam.
After a leadoff stroll to Starling Marte and a scorching single by Tyrone Taylor, Suárez began spinning curves once more, hanging out Francisco Alvarez and Lindor on almost equivalent deuces within the dust. Vientos then bounced a grounder to 3rd. The play was sluggish to develop and Marte was at third by the point Bohm fielded it. He had hassle getting it out of his glove and ate it as an alternative of risking a throwing error. Bohm was bailed out for the second straight inning when Nimmo grounded out to finish the menace.
Bohm was among the finest gamers in baseball in the course of the first half of the season, however he mixed for a 74 wRC+ in August and September. Issues obtained even worse as soon as the playoffs started. He was benched in Recreation 2 — the one sport the Phillies received — and in Recreation 3 he was thrown out making an attempt to stretch a single right into a double. That was his solely hit within the sequence.
Alonso walked to guide off the third inning, however then Suárez settled in. He struck out Iglesias with extra curveballs after which obtained Martinez to floor right into a 6-4-3 double play.
In the meantime, Mets starter Jose Quintana was cruising by the primary three innings, carving up a Philadelphia lineup that had misplaced its efficiency. Within the fourth, although, the Phillies obtained one thing going. Bryce Harper walked with one out, and Nick Castellanos lined a double over Nimmo’s head in left. The Mets introduced the corners in for Bohm, who for all his woes this sequence did simply sufficient to present the Phillies the lead. He grounded to 3rd the place Vientos, ranging to his glove aspect, fielded it, turned to throw house to get Harper, after which misplaced management of the ball. Everybody was protected. (Vientos was charged with an error on the fielder’s selection, so Bohm couldn’t even get credit score within the field rating for driving within the run.) The subsequent batter, J.T. Realmuto, lifted a shallow fly ball to proper discipline that wasn’t deep sufficient to attain Castellanos. Quintana then obtained Bryson Stott to fly out to heart for the ultimate out.
Main off the fifth, Lindor noticed yet one more curve from Suárez and wrapped it contained in the third final analysis and into the left discipline nook. Vientos then walked. Suárez stayed within the sport to face Nimmo, who struck out wanting on a sinker on the knees. Lastly, Phillies supervisor Rob Thomson went to his bullpen with two on, one out, and Alonso due up. Jeff Hoffman entered and caught Alonso taking a look at a front-door slider, which slid simply sufficient to clip the nook, earlier than Iglesias grounded out in entrance of house plate. As soon as once more, the Mets left a runner in scoring place.
As was the case in Recreation 1, the Phillies scored a run early however couldn’t add to their lead, permitting the Mets to mount a comeback. Dealing with Quintana for a 3rd time, Harper hooked a double to proper discipline, prompting Mendoza to go to his bullpen — Reed Garrett for the trio of righties due up after which David Peterson for lefty Bryson Stott. Harper was left stranded at second.
“So far as our offense is worried, I believed the Mets did an actual good job on us,” Thomson stated. “I believed we had fairly good at-bats in the present day, and never a lot to indicate for it. However we had a few alternatives and Quintana pitched fairly properly. However offense comes and goes, and it’s exhausting to elucidate, actually.”
What occurred subsequent isn’t exhausting to elucidate, nonetheless. Thomson left Hoffman in too lengthy.
At this level in his profession, Martinez is generally a platoon DH in opposition to lefty pitching. That’s why he was within the lineup for Recreation 4. However even with Hoffman within the sport and no lefties prepared within the bullpen, Mendoza stayed with Martinez as an alternative of pinch-hitting for him with Jesse Winker, and the veteran slugger promptly rewarded his supervisor with a single to heart. He superior to second on a wild pitch, after which following a Marte hit by pitch, each runners moved up on one other wild pitch. Hoffman issued one other free cross to Taylor to load the bases and convey up Alvarez, and nonetheless Thomson caught along with his right-hander.
With the infield in, Alvarez grounded to shortstop Trea Turner, who fired house in time to get Martinez and preserve the Mets off the board. The Phillies had been one double play ball from escaping yet one more jam.
In fact, that’s not what occurred. Thomson referred to as on Estévez, and Lindor referred to as sport. It’s a testomony to Lindor {that a} game-winning house run to ship his crew to the NLCS won’t even be the largest blast he’s hit within the final month. In reality, from August 17 onward, Lindor has hit 9 house runs, eight of which have both tied the sport or given the Mets the lead.
“I’m having fun with the second. I’m dwelling within the second,” Lindor stated. “Lots of people are asking me why I’m not reacting, why I’m not reacting to the house runs. I’m reacting, you understand. I’m celebrating inside. However on the finish of the day, the job just isn’t completed till we play 27 outs.”
Perhaps not formally, however after the grand slam, the Phillies had been cooked. They made one closing push within the ninth in opposition to Mets nearer Edwin Díaz. Realmuto and Stott walked to carry the tying run to the plate with no person out. Thomson despatched up pinch-hitter Kody Clemens.
After the primary pitch to Clemens, a fan in entrance of the press field shouted over the stressed crowd, “THROW A F*CKING STRIKE!” It labored. Díaz struck out Clemens and obtained Brandon Marsh to fly out. Solely Kyle Schwarber, who has the fourth-most house runs in postseason historical past, stood between the Mets and the NLCS. Díaz struck him out with a 101.1-mph fastball.
The identical crew that began the season 0-5 and was 11 video games underneath .500 on June 2 is now simply 4 wins away from reaching the World Collection. It’s unfathomable. It’s additionally simple.
