Lindor Lights the Way in LA Series Split
Credit: USA TODAY Sports
After two games against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets seemed lost.
The offense that powered the Mets to a 36-18 start and ranked in the top 10 in every major offensive statistic had evaporated. Through two games, New York had scored one run against the Dodgers staff, and the fundamentals that had followed the club vanished. Every mistake the Mets made became a specter on the scoreboard.
Fans freaked out, pundits questioned them, and in the back of everyone’s mind was the suspicion the Mets were still the team from yesteryear: One capable of a blistering start before erasing itself out of contention.
Then, on Saturday, Francisco Lindor stepped to the plate in the first inning. Where Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte were waylaid by Dodgers ace Walker Buehler, Lindor languished at the dish. He rebounded from a 0-2 count and brought it even while fouling four other pitches off. Buehler opted for a knuckle curve to try and retire the shortstop.
Instead, the pitch hung in the middle of the strike zone. Lindor rattled it off his bat and into the right-field stands for the Mets first lead in the series. Suddenly with one swing, New York knew it could be better than Los Angeles.
While the lead Lindor built crumbled, the message his home run brought forth lasted: The Dodgers will step on your neck and stay there if you let them. Everything you do good, they do better. But they aren’t infallible. Their pitchers make mistakes. And if Buehler makes another, the Mets can pry the boot off their neck.
New York did just that in the third inning. More blunders from Buehler plated four Mets runs, handed New York back the lead, and the Buehler the shortest start of his six-year career. From there, the Mets never looked back.
Pete Alonso notched five RBIs total, the bullpen held the fort, and the Mets coasted to their first win in the series.
Being better is not the same as being equal, however. With the Mets down a run in the top of the eighth of Sunday’s game, the team seemed destined to lose the series and whatever credibility they’d hoped to establish.
Then Lindor stepped to the plate. Again.
Like Buehler, Brusdar Graterol left a pitch up in the zone that Lindor lashed to right field. Unlike the at-bat against Buehler, the shortstop fell short of the stands and settled for a ground-rule double.
Regardless, Lindor once more lit the flare and urged his teammates to follow him into the light.
The Mets heeded the call. By inning's end, they claimed the lead with six outs separating them from a series split with baseball’s best.
The first three came easy. The next three were a struggle for the usually sure-handed Seth Lugo. Yet all he needed was one more strike against Chris Taylor.
Taylor though had different plans. On the eighth pitch of the at-bat, the outfielder attacked a curve for a double. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, journeyman Eddy Alvarez scored Taylor and tied the game.
The Dodgers were dead. They were the horror villain whose head was decapitated and body burned. This was supposed to be the end. Yet here the Dodgers stood. Head intact, body restored, and the game tied.
If the Mets were going to be defeated by demoralization, it’d be now. If, however, doesn't apply to the 2022 New York Mets.
J.D. Davis slashed a 2-0 fastball to left field to lead off the 10th. In Taylor’s attempt to catch the ball, however, it deflected off his glove and into the outfield. The Mets extra-runner scored with ease and the equation reset: Three more outs. That’s all the Mets need.
Tasked with getting those three outs was rookie pitcher Adonis Medina. In his way were five-time All-Stars and MVPs, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman. No big deal, right?
Medina battered Betts with five pitches in the strike zone. The fifth induced a shallow flyout. One down. Freeman fired the first pitch right to the defense for a groundout. Two down.
Dodgers catcher Will Smith represented the final out. If Medina could sit him down, the game would be over. If he made a mistake, the cycle would begin anew at least and the Dodgers would walk away with a win at worst.
With Smith in a 1-2 count, all that remained was one strike.
The Mets never got a final whiff. They got a foul tip. And as the ball licked off the bat and into catcher Tomas Nido’s glove, the Mets got the win and the split they craved.
The Dodgers are still the horror villain. Yes, this time they’ve been vanquished. Yet it’s only this time. But when these two teams meet again in August, they’ll meet equals, not opposites.
